SBBBHttK 




MiiiiMMittfci 



DYSPEPSIA, 



AND ITS 



KIUDKEP DISEASES. 



L 

BY 

Dr. W. W. HALL, 

Authoi of "How to Live Long," "Fun Better than Physic 
• 4 Health by Good Living," etc, etc 



> t ' ' tin 



NEW YORK: 
R. W0KTHINGT03T, 750 BROADWAY. 

1877. 






COPYRIGHTED. 

BKLFORD BROTHERS, 
A. D, 1877, 



ftr 1 

IB 



INDEX. 



— ♦— 

PAGE. 

Avoid experiments 20 1 

Avoidable things in dyspepsia 227 

Avoid noticing symptoms 107 

A case I / 

Acidity, heart-burn, &c 23 

Acidity of stomach , 98 

Avoid concentrated food . . . . , 183 

A bad taste 188 

Baths and bathing 58 

Bad breath 103 

Bread and cheese 148 

Biliousness 85 

Bile S5 

Cold feet ;/ 41 

Checking perspiration 53 

Consumption 77 

Children's eating, ; 79 

Consequences of dyspepsia 80 

Craving appetite 193 

Change of scenery beneficial 207 

Colic 99 

Change in habits 236 

Cosliveness 44 

Constipation 88 

Congestive chill 127 

Cure for drunkenness 195 



IV INDEX. 

PAGf. 

Digestion of food 97 

Digestibility of food 105 

Delicacies 123 

Drinking at meals 125, 199 

Digestibility of food— Table No. V 173 

11 11 11 n VI 1 75 

Dieting the stomach , 197 

Disregard of physical laws ; 221 

Dyspepsia 9 

Desserts are hurtful 122 

Dyspeptic torments 131 

Exercise before breakfast 32 

Early rising 35 

Eating too much 69 

Eating too often 70 

Elements of food 177 

Eating between meals 1 J 5 

Experiments 143 

Essential elements of nutrition 147 

Experimental eating 237 

Eating slowly 181 

Fagged out 36 

Fresh meats 191 

Gnawing hunger Ill 

Gall-stones 87 

General instructions 229 

Good Teeth . , 102 

Humoring. ... 15 

Human depravity 35 

How much to eat 179 

Hand-feeding of infants 151 

Homoeopathic treatment of dyspepsia 249 

Heartburn 271 

Indigestion 6$ 

Insupportable gnawing 22 

Keeping the fee: warm 40 



INDEX. V 

PAGE. 

Loose bowels 47 

Mode of treatment 13 

Mode of digestion 101 

Mode of preparing food 169 

Muffling up 81 

Masked dyspepsia 189 

Nutritive equivalents — Table No. Ill 166 

Nutritive value of food — Table No. 1 146 

" Notions " 19 

Night air 37 

Out-door activities 31 

Oatmeal diet 210 

Out-door exercise after meals 109 

Over-feeding of infants 139 

Object of eating 171 

Preface 7 

Preparing baby food 149 

Precautionary measures 29 

Perils of water cure 64 

Philosophy of exercise 238 

Regulating the diet 141 

Recapitulation 185 

Radical cure 209 

Regulating the bowels 45 

Splendid dinner 124 

Spasms in the stomach 269 

Symptoms II, 261 

Sick headache 253 

Sleeping rooms 39 

Steady headache 23 

Sickness the result of overstrain 218 

Sickness at stomach 136 

Surfeit 134 

Solidity and matter of food— Table No. IV 168 

Treatment of the disease 263 

The great remedy , 255 



VI INDEX. 

PAGE. 

The lungs , 253 

The grape cure 203 

The rest cure 215 

The benefits of rest 225 

Taking cold 48 

The philosophy of dyspepsia 94 

The use of strychnine 267 

Treatment 270 

The gastric juice 101 

Unwise practices 265 

Vomiting of blood 270 

Variety of food 121 

Varieties of dyspepsia 255 

Vaunted cures 91 

Working soon after eating 128 

Weakness of debility 250 

What is dyspepsia ? 26 

Young mothers. , 139 



PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. 



* Know thyself " is a maxim as fully applicable 
to ones physical system as to one's moral nature. 
And yet how great is the number of people who 
are blindly ignorant of the rules of health. 
Dyspepsia is one of the most common, as it is 
one of the most distressing, of human ailments. 
There is no need to depict the miseries which are 
incident to it. And yet it may not only be pre- 
vented by careful habits of living, but effectually 
cured. Dr. W. W. Hall, of New York, for many 
years editor of the Journal of Health, and the 
author of several works on hygiene and medical 
treatment, wrote this book for exclusive publication 
in Canada and the United States by our house ; 
but though he had completed the writing of it, he 
did not live to read all the proofs. As the last 
production of so eminent a specialist, it will have 
exceptionable claims on the public. Apart from 
this, however, it will be found to be a book of rare 
merit* giving full detailed instructions regarding 
Dyspepsia, which, if followed, must result in the 
alleviation of a great amount of suffering. 



DYSPEPSIA, 



A gentleman's younger daughter had been a 
sufferer for several years, had taken a great deal of 
medicine from numerous physicians, had been 
abroad travelling through various European coun- 
tries in search of health, but had returned home 
not materially benefitted, and became such a 
sufferer that some anxiety was felt as to the result. 
The family was one of social position and means, 
and lived in a part of the city so well situated for 
convenience and healthfulness and desirable sur- 
roundings, that it might have been considered a 
mystery why, with all the additional advantages 
that money could procure and facilities for all sorts 
of exercise on toot, or horse, or carriage, with the 
Central Park near at hand, and opportunities for 
every kind of diversion, and books and periodicals, 
the sympathies and visits of friends, with domestic 
relations, surroundings, and associations seldom 
equalled — why, with all these, the young lady 3 efc 



10 DYSPEPSIA. 

in her teens, was not only not improving, but was 
becoming more and more a sufferer every day, not 
only from her original malady, but from ugly com- 
plications very naturally arising therefrom. 

The patient was confined to the house and her 
bed ; in person approaching to tall, in a lady ; pale 
in face, slim in body, and wasted generally; the 
skin was fevered and the pulse fast and weak ; no 
appetite, no strength, no ambition, no courage, and 
without that force of will so necessary as an aid in 
getting well from any disease. She seemed to have 
suffered at one time or another almost every ail- 
ment possible to the human body, in a* greater or 
less degree. She could not even drink a cup of 
tea, take a glass of the purest and freshest milk, or 
sip a little cold water, without more or less suffer- 
ing at times. 

One thing was clear, she had no cough, no con- 
sumptive disease, no organic malady, no heart 
affection ; nothing that threatened life. In short, 
it was a plain case of an aggravated form of 
dyspeptic disease ; made worse ever yday literally, 
by a persistent forcing on the stomach, what was 
inevitably followed by human agony ; such dread- 
ful head-aches, such unendurable pains in the 
stomach, which only persistent drinks of brandy 



SYMPTOMS. 



11 



Buffered so greatly; had such violent stretch- 
ing out of the arms, and, at times, fainting away, 
that life seemed undesirable even if possible. A 
minute examination of the case and its history 
from the beginning elicited the information that all 
of the following symptoms, in varying intensities 
and at irregular intervals, had presented them- 
selves, and for convenience of reference are placed 
in alphabetical order, but not in that of their 
appearing ; this was learned from the lady-like and 
intelligent mother, who was also the devoted nurse : 



Acidity, 

Appetite excessive, 
Appetite fitful, 
Appetite vitiated, 
Appetite capricious, 
Appetite wanting, 
Bad taste, 
Belching, 
Burning in throat, 
Burning in stomach, 
Cold feet, 
Costiveness, 
Distension, 
Dizziness, 
Emptiness, 
Eructation, 
Flatulency, 



Flushings, Pain, sharp 

Fulness, Palpitation, 

General distress, Rumination, 

"Gnawing" sensation, Sinking, 



" Goneness," 
Haggard face, 
Head-ache, 
Heartburn, 
Heaviness, 
Load at stomach, 
Nausea, 
Nightmare, 
Oppression on chest, 
Pain in bowels, 
Pain, dull 
Pain, gnawing 
Pain, griping 



Skin, dry 
Skin, harsh 
Skin, hot 

Sleep, often restless 
Sour stomach, 
Stretchings, 
Tenderness at stomach 
Tongue white, 
Ugly dreams, 
Wakefulness, 
Water-brash, 
Weakness, 
Weight at stomach* 



12 DYSPEPSIA. 

In addition, there were diseases of the mind, not 
the less distressful from their being denominated 
nervous ; for all suffering is nervous, all feeling is 
nervous — that is, in the nerves. 

MENTAL SYMPTOMS. 

Cryings, Fretfulness> Nervousness, 

Depression of spirits, Forebodings, Self -distrust, 

Despondency, Irritability, Want of energy, 

Discouragement, Moodiness, Want of decision. 

Two things were clear : the disease was indiges- 
tion and that the young lady would get well, pro- 
vided she would co-operate with her physician in 
the means which would be proposed from time to 
time. Within a month she had nothing to com- 
plain of, except that she could not get enough to 
eat ; no head-ache, no distress after meals, sleep 
sound, bodily functions requiring no attention. 

The object of this book is to give information, 
plain, exact, practical, so that it can be consulted 
for the readers benefit, personally, if he is a dys- 
peptic. The key to the cure of this interesting 
young lady was found in a single remark of the 
mother — that she had been living largely on sweet 
milk, as it wa3 thought that it was the most natu- 
ral and healthy food ; sometimes a quart or more a 



MODE OF TREATMENT. 13 

day, although she detested it and wanted every 
cow in the universe to get as dry as a bone and 
remain so forever : not only because the milk was 
distasteful to her, but because of the inevitable 
distress and torment which followed; in fact, 
almost everything taken into the stomach distressed 
and sometimes almost crazed her. The only thing 
the physician had to do in this case was to find 
something which she could eat that would not 
distress her. 

As she was exceedingly thirsty, and milk, and 
tea, and even cold water, were causes of great dis- 
comfort, while spirits of every description were 
inapplicable, the way was clear and plain — not to 
drink anything, and this is often an essential ele- 
ment in the cure of dyspepsia ; especially to forbid 
fluids at meal-time, because by diluting the food- 
dissolving liquids in the stomach, their power of 
digestion is lessened, when the great, the essential, 
requirement is to increase the digestive power, if 
possible. 

An important element in the cure of dyspepsia, 
is to keep the mind of the patient in a comfortable 
condition, to keep up the spirits ; for this promotes 
the more natural, the freer circulation of the blood, 
drives it out from the heart. All know that the 



li DYSPEPSIA. 

heart, the pulse, beats faster while exercising the 
body, and so do they beat faster from exhilaration 
of the mind, as may be tested any hour in any 
person. Let any one, man or woman, s:t two or 
three hours or more, pretty much alone in the 
house, of a rainy day, nobody to talk to, nothiDg 
to do, tired of reading and tired of work, depression 
of spirits win creep over the mind, the pulse is 
going to sleep and the blood is becoming stagnant ; 
let a lively, cheerful visitor, or some dear friend or 
relative, unexpectedly come in, and there will be 
such a joy and animation that the heart throbs 
apace, the pulses beat to a new life, flushing the 
face and sparkling the eye, and driving the life 
currents tingling to the very ends of the fingers 
and toes, and in larger proportions to every part of 
the body, and to the stomach as well. But its 
liquids, the gastric juices, which dissolve and 
digest the food, are made out of the blood ; and the 
more blood, the more gastric juice, and the more 
easily, and perfectly, and healthfully is the food 
prepared for giving nourishment and strength to 
the system ; not being thus easily prepared, is dys- 
pepsia or indigestion — two words meaning the 
same thing, the former being of Greek origin, the 
latter Latin. 



HUMORING. 15 

These statements are made to show how it is that 
a pleasant state of the mind of a dyspeptic aids in 
the cure of his disease, and what a large influence 
it may have in promoting recovery to do all that is 
possible in studying out ways and means of diver- 
sion waking up hopeful and joyous feelings. This 
is an important element in the removal of all 
human maladies, but exceptionally eo in dyspepsia 
because there are so many ailments to contend 
against. It is not one discomfort or pain in one 
part of the body, but in many — so many sometimes 
as to cause an almost insupportable miserableness 
in the whole system, corporeal and mental. 

HUMORING. 

It has a great good effect to humor the patient 
generally, to fall in with what are called his 
" notions," provided they do not interfere with the 
treatment. All know that it is better not to irri- 
tate a drunken man or a maniac unnecessarily. It 
is useless to endeavour to turn off a complaint by 
an impatient word, or wave of the hand, or con- 
temptuous sneer ; to call it a mere figment of the 
imagination ; to say that it is " nervous ; " for 
whether nervous or imaginary, there is just as 
much discomfort, or annoyance, or torment, or 



16 DYSPEPSIA. 

actual pain, as if it were a reality, and just as com- 
plete a prevention of all bodily and mental comfort. 
To " humor," to fall in with the peculiar or sin- 
gular views or hallucinations of a patient, is some- 
times to cure. It is unquestionably true that every 
dyspeptic is the subject of whims, and caprices, and 
notions, more or less distressing ; in fact, unmistak- 
able insanity is often a result, an insanity so com- 
plete as to lead to suicide. Many a physician has 
been made the recipient of the confession either of 
the fear of suicide or of its contemplation; and 
many a man has been fretted out of the world by 
his own hands from either inability to endure the 
depressions or the tortures of dyspepsia. Hence, 
it is a humanity on the part of those who are asso- 
ciated with a dyspeptic to " humor " him ; to fall 
in with any innocent notions, however absurd they 
may be, and never attempt argument, or opposition, 
or ridicule ; for, in reality, the prevailing state of 
the mind of the dyspeptic for days and weeks 
sometimes tends to make him as really an unac- 
countable being as if he were insane ; and as much 
may be done by acquiescing as with a maniac 

A CASE. 

A titled English lady was one day in her recep- 
tion-room in expectation of some visitors ; she sat 



A CASE. 17 

in her arm-chair elegantly dressed, a snow-white 
article of apparel falling on her person, from her 
chin, making a striking contrast with other parts 
of her clothing. Just at this juncture a gentleman 
came in, closed the door, and, putting the key in 
his pocket, turned to the lady, who was his mother, 
and said : 

" Mother, I am going to cut your throat." 

" Not now, my son ; it would be a pity to soil 
this beautiful white handkerchief with blood ; I 
will go up stairs and get a coloured one, and it will 
not show so much." 

The mother knew her unfortunate child, had 
studied all his moods, and had schooled herself into 
a perfectly calm demeanor under all emergencies ; 
hence was able to answer in a way so natural, so 
undisturbed, and so reasonable to his weak mind, 
that it threw him off his guard, and he instantly 
unlocked the door, saying : 

"Yes, true, mother ; go up stairs and get another," 
thus affording an opportunity to have him taken in 
charge. 

A man having a nose-larger at the end than was 
natural to him became a victim to the hallucina- 
tion that a large bottle had grown on to the 
extremity of his proboscis, to the great annoyance 



18 DYSPErsU, 

of his family and friends. Argument, contempt, 
ridicule, only confirmed him in his convictions, uniil 
it became in him a subject of incessant complaint, 
mortification, and alarm, for he said the slightest 
stroke upon it would break it all to pieces, and he 
would bleed to death. At last it was determined 
to consult a distinguished physician of a distant 
city, who, having duly listened to an almost inter- 
minable history of the case, said to the astonished 
relatives present : " Mr. H. is perfectly right ; it is 
you who are mistaken; don't you see the bottle 
just there ? But I will take it off." So, arranging 
a case of instruments, placing the man in a sur- 
geon's operating chair, throwing the head so as to 
rest on the back, and tying a towel in a way to 
cover the eyes, he manipulated awhile, then 
instantly a stroke, a clash of broken glass scatter- 
ing upon the floor in a thousand fragments, and all 
was over. 

The man's eyes were unbandaged, there were the 
pieces of the broken bottle ; he could feel nothing 
on his nose, he was satisfied of the completeness of 
his cure, paid his fee, and went home with a moun- 
tain weight off his mind, a happy man. 

The principle is exemplified in minor cases almost 
every day in city practice, when the physician 



"notions" 19 

discovers mere "notions" and gives bread pills; or, 
as in the case of Mr. Abernethy, one of tfc.e most 
skilful physicians of his time, when consulted by a 
gentleman whom he discovered to have dyspepsia 
and that no medicine could cure him, advised him 
to visit Mr. Andrew Robertson, a descendant of 
Mary, Queen of Scots, and of the clan of Struan, 
who had peculiar skill and remarkable success 
in such cases. The patient left London next morn- 
ing on horseback ; there being no railroads in those 
days, and the roads were difficult. After several 
months' absence, the patient returned and called on 
Mr. Abernethy in almost uncontrollable wrath, with 
the information that he had visited the place and 
found that no such person lived there, nor ever 
had ; and that he had spent weeks of travel in 
endeavoring to find him, but no such physician was 
known in all the north of Scotland. 
" But, tell me, how is your health ? " 
"O, I'm perfectly well, but I don't like to be 
made a fool of in that way, sir, and I won't put up 
with it." 

"But, sir, you came to me to know how you 
might get well. I saw that yours was a case which 
medicine could not cure ; that you wanted air and 
exercise, and an object in view, and I believed that 



20 DYSPErSIA, 

the plan proposed would secure the desired end; 
and such has been the result. What more could 
you want ? " 

A new light broke in upon the patient's mind, 
and, making suitable apologies, he paid a handsome 
fee and left, believing, as many others did, that Mr 
Abernethy was one of the greatest doctors in the 
world. 

This incident is narrated foi two reasons : First, 
to show that medical men of large experience find 
it advantageous to fall in with the prejudices of 
the weak-minded, made weak by disease, or to put 
them on methods of recovery without suspicion of 
the means. Second, the great but eccentric phy- 
sician knew at that early day that medicine could 
never cure dyspepsia when once it got a firm hold 
upon the system. Sometimes it may aid in bring- 
ing about desirable results ; or, in certain complica- 
tions, it may be necessary and may save time; but 
the main fact still remains that 

MEDICINE CANNOT CUKE DYSPEPSI 

because the gastric juice which is essential for dis- 
solving the food and placing it in a condition to 
yield nutriment to the body is made out of the 
blood, cannot be made in any other way, and no 



MEDICINE CANNOT CURE DYSPErSU. 21 

medicine can make blood, for ifc is constituted of 
elements found in nutritious food, and is found 
nowhere else, hence can be made in no other way. 
Thus the key to the cure of every case of dyspep- 
sia is the healthful digestion of food, and whatever 
promotes that promotes the cure. 

And here let the intelligent reader bear in mind 
that, as a necessary result of the statements made, 
all newspaper advertisements of medicines which 
cure dyspepsia are misleading, and that the 
employment of such remedies is worse than use- 
less ; for it not only is a waste of valuable time and 
a wicked waste of money, but their employment 
gives an opportunity to the disease to fix itself 
more deeply in the system, become more aggrava- 
ted, and hence more difficult of cure, to say nothing 
of the protracted, and additional, and aggravated 
sufferings which the malady occasions. 

In the case narrated, only a single dose of medi- 
cine was administered up to the time when it was 
considered that the foundation of the cure had 
been laid, and that nothing additional was needed 
but persistence and care in following out the gene- 
ral plan laid down. 

The case is not given as peculiar or very remark- 
able, except for the variety of the symptoms. In 



22 DYSPEPSIA. 

ordinary cases, there are but few sources of annoy- 
ance or discomfort. One man complains of a 
heavy weight at the pit of the stomach after every 
meal. Another has such an 

INSUPPORTABLE GNAWING 

at the stomach awhile before the regular time f jr 
eating that he feels as if he must take something, 
having found by accident that a cracker, or an 
apple, or a piece of bread and butter, removes the 
uncomfortableness. Yielding to this becomes a 
habit which intensifies the disease and fixes it more 
firmly in the system. Persons thus affected should 
heroically resist, and wait until the regular time of 
eating, and then the gnawing will gradually dis- 
appear, if ether means are carried out named in 
these pages. Another person, a short time after 
he has eaten, begins 

TO SPIT UP HIS FOOD. 

The stomach seems to be unable to retain it, 
nature, in her desperation, seeming to know that 
there is no gastric juice there to dissolve it, 
casts it out of the system, as unfit for retention. 
Others again soon after eating, perhaps half an 
hour, or an hour, or more, have no other sense 
of discomfort than a 



ACIDITY. 23 

STEADY HEADACHE, 

•which generally increases in intensity, until it 
reaches its highest point, then gradually disap- 
pears, and, until the next meal, the person is as 
well as usual. A more common symptom is fre- 
quently denominated 

HEART BURN, 

a popular designation which does not properly 
express the nature of the symptom. There is, 
indeed, a burning sensation at the bottom of the 
throat, or at the pit of the stomach, or, in more 
aggravated cases, extending from the stomach to 
the throat along the centre of the chest, caused 
by the fermentation of the food, which means 
that it begins to rot, and turns sour, hence 

ACTDITY 

is sometimes such a tormenting symptom that 
it takes away all the life and strength and 
energy of a man. A case of several years standing 
was lately presented ; that of an intelligent 
clergyman. He had been troubled for some years 
and in such an aggravated form that all joyousness 
had disappeared from his face and such a multitude 
of remedies had been advised and prescribed, and 



24* DYSrEPSIA. 

such a variety of systems of diet had been resorted 
to thai he had lost all confidence in every form of 
treatment and seemed to move about more 
mechanically than anything else ; the prominent 
statements were that he was near fifty years of 
age, had led an out door life, was of strong build, 
and of a make of body which promised a life of 
full three score years and ten, yet with all that 
apparent strength of body he would sometimes be 
compelled, while conducting religious services, to 
ask to be excused, and at other times would feel as 
if he could not live ; his acidity was very aggravat- 
ing, and more so in the morning before breakfast 
than at any other time ; it was the bane of existence 
and he seemed to be incredulous of any mode of 
cure. Within a week, carrying out the principles 
referred to already, he was met in the street ; no 
acidity, not a particle, the change amazing, and 
that he described himself as being an 

ENTIRELY NEW MAN. 

In reading standard works on dyspepsia, the 
reader will be impressed with the great variety of 
phases of dyspeptic disease, a wonderful combina- 
tion of symptoms, and nice distinctions, but these 
have not been entered into, the object has been to 



ACIDITY. 2o 

treat of that common form of the malady which 
manifests itself among the masses; which is seen in 
ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, organic diseases, 
those involving the texture of the organ, as cancer 
and others, being incurable, have not been con- 
sidered, only those which present the ordinary 
symptoms as enumerated in the first pages of the 
book, and it is believed that if the principles of 
treatment which have been enumerated are carried 
out with reasonable fidelity a permanent cure will 
be the rule and failure an exception, but even in 
these, the amelioration of the disease will be most 
grateful. 

It would extend beyond the intended limits of 
this book to treat in detail and explain the 
philosophy of all the symptoms of dyspepsia 
which have been enumerated. It was merely 
designed to present the idea to the reader that 
while all the symptoms enumerated were to be 
observed among dyspeptics, it was not common 
for any one person to have but few of them, and, 
sometimes, but a single one is prominent in the 
onset of the malady; yet, in almost all cases, if 
the ailment is allowed to progress, most of the 
symptoms will manifest themselves sooner or later. 



26 DYSPEPSIA. 



WHAT IS DYSPEPSIA ? 

When a person notices that invariably after 
eating a regular meal, half an hour, or hour, or 
more, some sensation attracts the attention unplea- 
santly, it matters not what that sensation is, 

THAT IS DYSPEPSIA, 

and unless attended to will gradually grow more 
decided, until the torments become numerous and 
incessant. The uncomfortable sensation may be 
very slight, almost inappreciable ; it may not be 
a single one of those which have been mentioned 
in alphabetical order on page 11. For example 
a gentleman noticed every night, an hour or two 
after he got into bed, his feet began to get un- 
comfortably warm ; this increased gradually until 
it resulted in such an intolerable burning that he 
would frequently go out of doors in the dead of 
the night in mid-winter, and walk on the snow 
in his bare feet. His dyspepsia was cured and 
there was no more need of the purgatorial reined} 7 , 
bringing us back to the bottom fact, that, whenever 
a man has any uncomfortableness about him at 
a regular time, after eating, he is dyspeptic. It is 



WHAT IS DYSPEPSIA? 27 

indigestion in its first beginnings, and if then 
attacked it can be promptly and effectually cured, 
without a particle of medicine, but simply by a 
judicious regulation of what a person eats and 
drinks. If no efficient attention is paid to these 
beginning symptoms, they multiply in number and 
violence indefinitely ; seldom proving fatal of them- 
selves, but gradually undermining the constitution, 
making it an easy prey to some acute malady, as 
the result of 

A LITTLE COLD, 

or slight over-exertion, or mere physical accident ; 
but whether in its beginnings or in its more 
advanced and aggravated forms the principles of 
cure are the same, requiring more or less special 
observance for a greater or less time, according to 
the intensity of the symptoms and the duration of 
their existence. Dyspepsia is inability on the 
part of the stomach to change the food intro- 
duced into it so as to yield nutriment to the 
body. Inability is weakness. The stomach is too 
weak to perform its necessary work. A servant 
who has been sick, but is slowly getting well, is 
weak, is unable to do much work, but can do a 
little, and do that little well ; but if you give him 



28 DYSPEPSIA. 

too much to do, more than he is able to do, he may, 
in his faithfulness, attempt to do it all, and he may 
get through with it, but, in the effort to do it all, 
none of it is done well. In dyspepsia the whole 
man is weak, every part of him, and the stomach 
bears its proportion of the weakness ; it can work 
up a little food, can digest a little, and if a little is 
given to it, will digest it well, with the result that 
the blood made out of it is good blood, and gives 
substantial strength to the system ; thus laying the 
foundation for recovery ; for, as the body gets 
stronger, the stomach gets stronger, can do more 
work, can do it better, thus in turn imparting more 
and more strength to the system, enabling the 
patient to take more exercise, be longer in the open 
air without fatigue and without taking cold, and, 
with increasing strength, makes better blood, begins 
to gain in flesh, in good spirits and in hopefulness, 
in short is a new being. 

THE FIRST STEP 

then in the cure of dyspepsia is to ascertain, in 
each particular case, how much food the stomach 
can bear, what amount of work it can do, and do 
well. This is soon ascertained by the exercise of a 
close observation and a good judgment. But a 



PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES. 29 

person of the humblest capacity can make a begin- 
ning at the very next meal, say dinner. First, 
drink nothing, not a drop of anything, not even 
pure water. Make no other change, but notice if 
there is any abatement of the symptoms. Perhaps 
it would be well to drink nothing at either meal 
for twenty-four hours, and then, whether there is 
any change or not, take no dessert of any kind at 
the second dinner ; at the third, take but one kind 
of meat, and but one vegetable ; at the fourth din- 
ner, take no vegetable except boiled turnips, and if 
they produce no special discomfort, they can be 
eaten to advantage every day at dinner. On the 
fifth day at dinner, take brown bread, fresh meat, 
fish, or fowl, and boiled turnips, without any drink 
of any kind. Then, as to suppers, they should be 
made of brown bread and butter, or oatmeal por- 
ridge, or wh eaten grits, or cracked wheat, with 
a little salt, or butter, or sugar, no milk or anything 
else ; varying the article every two or three days. 
For breakfast about this time, take the same as at 
supper, adding any kind of fresh meat above 
named, cut up as fine as a pea, eaten very slowly, 
and thoroughly chewed. If, after every mouthful, 
a newspaper or new testament were taken up and 
read a few minutes, chewing all the time, it would 



30 DYSPErSIA. 

be so much the better, because, in the process of 
chewing, the muscles of the cheeks work out a cer- 
tain kind of fluid, the province of which is to aid 
in the better and quicker disintegration, and perfect 
dissolution of the food into a liquid mass, depriv- 
ing it of its solid quality, preparing it to be taken 
into the blood with all its nutritiousness. 

It is to be understood that an indispensable 
requisite in this method of treatment, is to reso- 
lutely and most strictly avoid eating anything 
whatever between meals, unless it is sometimes 
found that part of a lemon, gradually sucked into 
the mouth, is palatable and refreshing, as it some- 
times is ; for acid is supposed to be cooling, to aid 
in digesting the food, and acts on the liver, thus 
tending to prevent sickness at the stomach and 
costiveness. 

About this time begin to take a quarter of a 
pound of fresh grapes before the three regular 
meals, long enough to be done eating them half an 
hour before the meal, and increase the amount 
gradually until three-quarters of a pound are taken 
before each of the three meals of the day. Or, 
in their place, apples, or berries, or cherries, or 
currants, or other fresh fruits in their natural ripe 
state, may be taken ; but the grapes answer a so 



OUT-DOOR ACTIVITIES. SI 

much better purpose, that, if within the easy 
means of the patient, they should be preferred. In 
case it is at a season of the year when the ordinary 
black grape is not to be had, then use the whits 
grape, which may be readily obtained almost the 
year round at any good fruit or grocery store. 
Sometimes an orange, or two, or three, may be sub- 
stituted for the grapes. But in all this course keep 
steadily in view the one fundamental point, when- 
ever any symptom or sensation after eating attracts 
the attention unpleasantly, make a change in the 
quantity of the food taken at the regular meal ; 
less and less at each meal, until no discomfort is 
observable. So far as to the eating ; but, from the 
very first day of entering on the treatment, more 
or less of 

OUT DOOR ACTIVITIES 

are indispensable to speedy and encouraging results. 
Never go outside of the door in the morning, at 
any time of the year, until after breakfast, because, 
in cold weather, there is a rawness and dampness 
in the atmosphere which tend to chill the whole 
body ; the reaction of this is more or less of fever, 
which tends to impair the appetite, or otherwise 
derange the system, leaving the person in a more or 



32 DYSPEPSIA. 

less uncomfortable condition for hours afterwards ; 
if not for the whole day. 

EXERCISE BEFORE BREAKFAST. 

In the summer-time, going out of doors before 
breakfast is more pernicious than in winter, because 
the stomach, being empty after so long a fast, is 
weak, and absorbs into its circulation those malarial 
ingredients which enter the mouth and nose, and 
make their way direct into the stomach and lungs, 
and mingle with the blood, poisoning it in an hour, 
and sometimes fatally so, in proportion to the luxu- 
riance of the vegetation, the warmth of the season, 
and the flatness of the country. There is always 
dampness in the morning air in addition to the 
miasmatic pollution, and both combined, acting 
upon a weak and empty stomach, and when the 
circulation is the least active of the whole twenty- 
four hours, the system is unable to repel the 
attacks of injurious causes. 

THE SON OF A KIXG, 

a^ed eighteen, went on a hunting excursion at a 
distance from home. He arrived at the hunting 
grounds late in the day, and put up at a country 
inn, saying to the landlord that he wished to take an 



EXERCISE BEFORE BREAKFAST. S3 

early ride, before breakfast. He was informed that 
the morning air was very injurious, and that it was 
sometimes even fatal to strangers; but, "boy-like," 
the heir apparent to the throne of Portugal said it 
would not hurt him; and, although he was entreated 
to eat at least something, he persisted in taking 
his hunt. In twenty-four hours he was attacked 
with fever, and eventually died, from breathing a 
miasmatic atmosphere before breakfast on a sum- 
mer's morning ; and there is always more or less of 
it in the early morning air in all latitudes south of 
the sixtieth parallel, hence the universal idea of the 
healthfulness of the early summer morning air is a 
myth, an absurdity, because it is demonstrably 
dangerous, and dyspeptics, as well as all who are in 
any way weak, would do a great deal better to lie 
in bed on summer mornings, until an hour or more 
after sunrise, if they can afford it. If they are too 
poor to spare the time, it is their misfortune, as is 
proven by the result, that out-door labourers, as a 
class, die ten years sooner, on an average, than 
those who are not compelled to bounce out of their 
beds at daylight, and go poking about in the dark 
for boots, and shoes, and odd stockings, and matches, 
and, now and then, knocking out the few brains 
they have got, against the bed-post, and hurrying 



34» DYSPEPSIA. 

to their out-door work before their eyes are fairly 
open. Sensible people never rise before the sun in 
any latitude, if they can help it, hence they live 
longer by a good many years, on an average, than 
the insensible ones. 

Later chemical investigations seems to show that 
the injurious constituents of the early morning 
air are living things, cells or spores which are the 
" germs " or poison-producing effects, most numer- 
ous, hence most malignant, for the hour including 
sunrise and sunset, because, the air being cold, con- 
denses on the surface of the earth, is thicker, as it 
were, just as wool or feathers are more compact 
at the bottom of a barrel than at the top. As the 
sun rises, it naturally, according to invariable 
physical laws, rarifies the atmosphere, causing it 
to ascend above the breathing point ; but, as 
evening comes on, the air cools again, condenses 
at the surface, becomes heavy and damp, as the 
most unobservant know, demonstrating the health- 
fulness of the custom of taking a regular breakfast 
before going out of the house in the morning ; and 
the most certain way to bring this about, as a 
habit, is to stay in bed until after sunrise, especi- 
ally in summer time, to say nothing of its delicious 
comfortableness. 



EAELY RISING, 35 

HUMAN DEPRAVITY, 

or, at least, human perversity and obtusiveness, is 
not more clearly demonstrated, than in the fact 
that people will punish themselves in getting out 
of bed early, as if there was some kind of physical 
merit in self-denials, the more beneficial, as they 
are the more distressing. 

Stout, strong, healthy people can afford to get 
up day before yesterday, if they think it important, 
but for all persons who live mostly indoors, if at 
all weak and for all dyspeptics, the rule ought to be 
imperative to be indoors, for the hour including 
sunrise and sunset, and to take breakfast before 
they go out of doors in the morning ; and take 
" tea " or supper a while before sundown, especi- 
ally in the summer time, or that portion of the 
year when fires are not needed for house-warming 
purposes. 

More space has been given to this subject than 
would otherwise have been done, because of the 
universally prevalent idea that early rising is of 
itself healthful, and to convince the judgment of 
the dyspeptic that taking a walk or ride before 
breakfast is not healthful. 



36 DYSPErSlA. 

Dyspeptics are usually persons who live indoors, 
as women, or persons of leisure, or professional 
men, and upon such it is more imperative that out- 
door exercise should be systematic and persistent 
and moderate. 

It is always injurious to exercise rapidly or 
violently or continue it so long as to cause great 
uneasiness, the person expressing himself as being 

FAGGED OUT, 

because all disease is connected with an irregular 
distribution of the blood or violent action of the 
heart, which during excessive exercise throws it out 
towards the surface too fast, to be succeeded by an 
exhaustion which prevents it from throwing it out 
not fast or far enough, and the result is a chill ; 
then comes a fever and a bad cold. To avoid these 
things and to derive the greatest possible advan- 
tage from exercise, it should be out of doors ; it 
should be deliberate, it should be persistent, with- 
out extending to actual weariness or fatigue. The 
plan should be to turn back towards home, before 
being much tired. 

If practicable, even if it requires an effort or is 
inconvenient, take a leisure walk, or work i$ moder- 
ation after breakfast, then again before dinner ; 



NIGHT AIR. 37 

then after dinner, and, unless it is cold or raining, 
or otherwise inclement, a walk or a visit one hour 
or two after sundown is better than to stay indoors 
doing nothing for the long interval between supper 
and the hour for retiring. The only precaution 
needed is to keep in exercise, or dress warm enough 
to keep off a feeling of chilliness. There is a gene- 
ral impression that there is something baleful in 
the 

NIGHT AIB; 

but it is better and purer than the indoor air of 
the same locality, because in reality the indoor air 
is but the outside air contaminated with a multi- 
tude of odors coming from the cellar and kitchen 
and closets under the same roof. The night air 
under ordinary circumstances is injurious only in 
connection with dampness or chilliness; beside 
there are advantages in going out and making 
social visits, in that it dive; ts the mind from bodily 
ailments, rupkes it more elastic and joyous, 
promotes the circulation of the blood and forwards 
the process o': digestion or assimilation and nutri- 
tion. 

In taking these four exercises during the ctav, or 
as many of them as is practicable without making 



33 DYSPEPSIA. 

unnecessary sacrifices, it is better to vary the form 
and ride, and walk and work alternately. 

The looking forward to these times of exercise 
and the preparation for them are of themselves 
exercises having beneficial effects on both mind 
and body and disposition. 

The best possible benefit from any form of exer- 
cise is derived from carrying it to the extent of 
causing a very slight perspiration on the forehead, 
if the hat is on ; and then to cool off cautiously and 
slowly. 

It is more difficult to get the average patient to 
take medicine than to take exercise, for it is easier 
to do, takes but little time, and the task is over. 
That is one of the reasons of the non-success of 
physicians in curing dyspeptic ailments: every 
little thing is allowed to prevent going out of doors, 
the slightest obstacles become mountain barriers, 
the dust, the wind, the cold, the dampness, tha 
mud, the slush in the streets, the expense, the 
time, the trouble, engagements, and a thousand 
other little nothings, which, if the patient had any 
force of character, would be swept away as a cob- 
web with a dash of the hand. In fact cue cf the 
most uniform concomitant symptoms of dyspepsia 



SLEEPING-ROOMS. S9 

is irresolution, want of fixity of purpose, at least 
as to anything worth doing. 

SLEEPING-ROOMS. 

It is important that the dyspeptic should sleep in 
a good sized room, its breadth and length multiplied 
equalling about two hundred feet ; in addition it 
should be on the sunny side of the house, with an 
open fire place, the window being open an inch or 
two unless the theremometer is dolm to thirty 
degrees above zero, then there is no advantage, but 
a positive injury, from hoisting an outside window, 
because that degree of cold— any cold in a cham- 
ber which will cause the water to freeze — makes 
the air positively poisonous, because the carbonic 
acid coming from every sleeper is made heavy by 
the cold and settles near the floor, poisoning the 
blood at every inbreathing. When a window is not 
open, the door of the 'chamber should be left ajar, 
then the air coming into the room from that point 
and from the crevices about the window casings 
will form a draft towards the open fire place and 
drive the carbonized air up the chimney. 

Besides the regulation of the eating, and the out- 
door exercises, and the sleeping in dry, sunny 
rooms, attention should be given to 



40 DYSPEPSIA. 

KEEPING THE FEET WARM, 

regulating bodily functions, and avoiding colds. 
Not that all these things are essential in the suc- 
cessful treatment of the ordinary form of dyspepsia, 
but they assist ; and in most cases of sedentary 
persons, especially if weakened, and if they have 
been long ailing, it is desirable to do eve*y little 
thing which is calculated to be even a slight bene- 
fit, so that all combined may make a decided im- 
pression for good and forward the desired result. 

COLD FEET. 

Good health, with habitually cold feet, is impos- 
sible, as it soon causes cough, hoarseness, sore 
throat, headache, billiousness, or other ailments. 

Going to bed with cold feet prevents good sleep 
in adults, and is frequently followed by croup in 
children. It is a good plan to hold the naked feet 
to an open fire the last thing before going to bed, 
rubbing them with the hands until perfectly dry 
and warm in every part. It is still better to do 
this on first getting home at night so as to have 
them comfortable until bedtime. If there is no 
fire, dry-rub them with a coarse towel, or take a 
brisk walk, or wrap them up in brown paper or a 



COLD FEET. 41 

blanket, or warm the bed where they will rest 
with hot bricks, soapstone, wood, or water bottles 
then remove them, for it makes the feet tender to 
have them rest against artificial warmth during 
the night. The feet will keep warmer by stretch- 
ing the limbs out straight, for the blood circulates 
more vigorously in right lines than curved. 

There should always be a folded blanket within 
easy reach, in case one should wake up with cold 
extremities. 

Sometimes red pepper or mustard in the bottom 
of the stockings keeps the feet warm. But it is 
always best that the warmth should come from 
within, and the first necessity is perfectly clean feet, 
because the pores in the soles are very much larger 
than in any other part of the body, hence are more 
easily clogged with accumulations, which prevent 
the blood from reaching the surface to warm it 
hence they should be washed every night in warm 
water, then dip them for an instant in cold water, 
covering the toes, to promote reaction ; if this is 
not sufficient, the same should be done every morn- 
ing also. 

Some persons claim to have kept the feet per- 
fectly warm by wearing no stockings, but leather 

shoes, buttoned well up to the ankle, stating, how- 
3 * 



42 DYSPEPSIA. 

ever, that it is essential to keep the feet perfectly- 
clean. 

Some feet are more comfortable in cotton than 
woollen, some with thin than thick, some with two 
thin pair, than one of stouter material ; each should 
be a rule for himself, observing closely. 

In stubborn cases of cold feet, bathe them in hot 
water for ten minutes, then dip them in cold water 
for a few seconds, and repeat this cold and hot 
operation two or three times, not only at night but 
also in the morning; in all cases follow up the 
remedies until the object is accomplished. 

In damp weather, and for the weakly in all 
weathers, felt soles should be worn inside the shoe, 
removed and thoroughly dried every night; cork 
absorbs moisture, and is not readily dried. 

India rubber shoes are the only perfect protectors 
of the feet in wet weather, and they keep out the 
cold and retain the inner heat in the winter time ; 
remove them after getting into the house, if you 
expect to remain an hour or more. 

In riding in vehicles, a newspaper, well wrapped 
around the stocking-feet, will keep them warmer 
than a tight boot, as the latter prevents the circu- 
lation of the blood ; paper under the feet in public 
assemblies out of doors, prevents the dampness of 



COLD FEET. 43 

the earth from striking in, and it keeps the feet 
warmer in rail cars than if they are allowed to rest 
on the floor ; in fact, a shawl or wrap on the floor, 
for the feet to rest on, is often of more importance 
than on the lap or shoulders. The floor is colder 
than the foot-rests in car seats. Many, especially 
ladies, do a great deal towards undermining their 
health by wearing tightly-fitting shoes ; while in 
the house they should wear loosely-fitting slippers 
all the time ; if the feet are inclined to be cold, 
they should be made of woollen cloth or felt — soles 
and all. Mothers should always notice if the feet 
are warm on putting the children to bed, and also 
the last thing on retiring at night, as croup is 
always preceded by cold feet. In short, perfectly 
clean feet, with loose covering, are the main things 
for keeping them comfortably warm ; and always, 
the instant they are cold enough to attract the 
attention unpleasantly, even slightly, let nothing 
prevent warming them at the fire or by a brisk 
walk, or rubbing them with the hands. If very 
cold, do not put them within five feet of the 
fire; better put them in cool water for a while. 
A young lady, returning from skating, noticed one 
foot to be painfully cold. She was advised to put 
it in hot water, resulting in amputation. It should 



44 DYSPEPSIA. 

have been wrapped in snow, or put in cool water 
first. 

REGULATING THE BOY\ T ELS. 

The alimentary canal, constituting the " bowels," 
is about thirty feet long, and is constantly moving, 
like worms in a carrion, hence called, the "vermi- 
cular motion," or " peristaltic action," which action 
is healthy when it causes an evacuation every day, 
soon after breakfast ; without this, it is impossible 
to be well, keep well, or get well. If this action is 
not vigorous enough, there is an interval of two or 
three days; this is " costiveness :" if five or six or 
nine days intervene, it is " constipation ;" if the 
action is too vigorous it is called looseness, or diar- 
rhoea, which, exaggerated, is cholera ; hence the cure 
of costiveness and diarrhoea is the regulation of the 
bowels to one action a day ; the natural, safe, and 
efficient means are exercise, food, and drink. 

COSTIVENESS. 

Every movement of every muscle of the body 
tends to throw from it, on the outside, all useless 
waste, hurtful matter, so as to keep the human 
mechanism unclosed ; if a needle is stuck clear 
into the flesh anywhere, the next day the muscles 



EEGULAT-ING THE BOWELS. 45 

begin to get rid of it ; and in one, two or five years 
or more, it presents itself at the surface of some 
distant part of the body. The object of this 
exquisitely skilful arrangement is to carry away 
the refuse of the food daily eaten. The best form 
of exercise is steady, moderate work, especially 
out -doors, as in plowing, hoeing, spading, and the 
like. Next best is moderate, continuous walking 
two or three times a day, causing a slight perspira- 
tion and fatigue, especially with an agreeable or 
profitable end in view. 

Next to this, is riding on a trotting horse before 
dinner, for a time, which will be efficient next day. 

Or, for five or ten minutes, night and morning 
after meals, thumping, for a space of six inches 
around the navel, with the ends of the fingers and 
thumbs, to stimulate the bowels to motion when 
torpid or asleep. 

Or, with the ball of the hand, beginning at the 
right hip, under the ribs, rub downwards, moving 
towards the other side of the navel, for the liver is 
above that locality, and, in a sense, the bile which 
it contains is pressed out as water from a sponge, 
and is carried into the bowels, the Want of its 
presence there being the cause of the constipation. 



46 DYSPEPSIA. 

Sometimes an injection or * enema n of half a 
pint of tepid water answers the purpose ; this is 
the favorite French method, but the system soon 
begins to look for it, and a troublesome, life-long 
habit is induced, which must be kept up. 

Some swallow a tablespoonful or two of white 
mustard seed whole, in water, an hour before meals ; 
the seed acts mechanically, irritating the parts, 
causing them to throw out water, as the eye when 
touched; this dissolves the hardened contents, carry- 
ing them downwards, all causing accumulation and 
distension, like the enema. 

Others drink a glass or two of fresh, cool water, 
on rising, and, if necessary, midway between meals, 
and on retiring. 

Others again use freely stewed prunes, dates, 
tomatoes, dried figs, and other things having small 
seeds, acting as the whole mustard above. 

Coarse foods are efficient, having a great deal of 
waste, to distend the lower bowel ; as boiled tur- 
nips, and bread made of the meal of the whole of 
the grain of wheat, barley, oats, or Indian corn ? 
with the bran, the sharp edges of which are sup- 
posed to act as the mustard seed ; hence, some stir 
a tablespoonful of bran in two glasses of water, of 
mornings, to move the bowels. 



REGULATING THE BOWELS. 47 

Few will fail, if half a pound or more of grapes, 
oranges, fresh fruits, or berries are eaten an hour 
before a meal of oatmeal porridge, or crushed wheat, 
or wheaten grits, or hominy with a little butter, or 
salt, or sugar, — no milk, or cream, or other fluid. 

The exercise, the food, the water, the fruits, are 
natural agencies, safe and efficient, if well carried 
out. If drugs are taken even for a few days, they 
leave a still greater tendency to constipation, and 
soon medicine is needed every day; a miserable 
and ruinous habit. 

LOOSE BOWELS. 

As every step causes their motion, don't move, 
but lie down; nature prompts that by sending a 
feeling of weakness ; next, bind woollen flannel, 
a foot broad, around the body, double in front, 
tight ; this gives warmth and prevents the bowels 
from hastily moving, as a man in a packed crowd ; 
the relief is instantaneous and delicious, especially 
in cholera. 

For food, eat nothing but rice parched brown, like 
coffee, then boiled, with a little batter, or salt, or 
sugar over it, thrice a day ; nothing between ; 
drink nothing, but eat all the ice you can, swallow- 



48 DYSPEPSIA. 

ing it in as large lumps as possible, to quench 
thirst and cool the internal fever. 

In all cases when the objeet is accomplished, 
leave off the remedy gradually, so as to have the 
same things to fall back upon in subsequent attacks 

TAKING COLD. 

" He took a little cold," has been heard multi- 
tudes of times in answer to the question, " What 
was the matter with him," in reference to some one 
who had just died. In all such cases the person 
would not have died then, might have lived a good 
while longer, had the cold not have been taken, 
Just as the foor of a room in the house may be 
covered with powder, and no harm ever result 
until a spark is applied. 

Almost every reader can remember having often, 
during his previous life, taken " a little cold," re- 
sulting in great discomfort, lasting for many days 
sometimes, if not ending in serious illness. It is 
not that " a little cold " is of itself a serious thing ; 
for, if the person had been in vigorous health, it 
would have passed off in a short time, without 
leaving any special ill result ; but very few persons 
are in vigorous health, hence almost every one is 
personally and vitally concerned in understanding 



TAKING COLD. 49 

all about the nature, cause, and cure of " a little 
cold." 

The blood vessels are large near the heart, but 
Bpread out, as the trunk of a tree divides into 
branches, getting smaller and smaller, until when 
they reach the outer surface of the body, the skin, 
they are too small to be seen by the naked eye, yet 
they are all hollow, and the warm blood from the 
heart is constantly coming into them, imparting 
that warmth to the skin, and then returning, thus 
going and returning all life long. 

But if the skin gets cold these little blood vessels 
wont work, they contract; the warm blood does 
not reach the skin; it was cold on the outside 
before, but now it gets cold, as it were, deeper, on 
the inside, where there are more nerves to feel it, 
and the result is we feel cold, and a chill or shiver 
runs all over us ; that instant a cold has been 
taken. The blood does not get to the surface of 
the body by a greater and greater distance ; it 
tends to accumulate about the heart and lungs, fill- 
ing them so full that air enough cannot get in, and we 
have the sensation of being " stuffed up," of being 
" short of breath," of being "oppressed." 

If the cold is still longer prolonged, the brain 
itself gets oppressed by the increased amount of 



50 DYSPEPSIA. 

blood there ; this oppression causes sleepiness, 
which becomes more and more irresistible and 
overpowering ; such a sense of its deliciousness 
comes over the person that he would " give the 
world/' if he had it, for a little sleep, just to be 
permitted to lie down and go to sleep for a minute 
or two, until, at last, he can resist no longer. 
Then he falls asleep, and wakes no more, because 
he has 

FROZEN TO DEATH, 

the most delicious death that can ever come to 
man. 

This is when the cold is continuously applied to 
the skin, and the cold air is carried into the lungs 
at every breath. But, in ordinary taking cold, 
when the heart gets to a certain point of fulness, it 
makes an instinctive effort to relieve itself from 
impending suffocation ; just as a man would strive 
in desperation to remove a pillow from his face, 
when forcibly pressed upon it by others attempt- 
ing to smother him. In this condition of things, 
the heart begins to work faster, in order to pump 
the excess of blood out of it ; not only faster but 
more vigorously, feel the pulse, and instead of 
beating about seventy times in a minute as in 
health, it works "like lightning/' ninety, or a 



TAKING COLD. - 51 

hundred times, or more, in a minute ; this is " re- 
action ;" we call it fever. 

Everyone can remember how chilly he was when 
he first took the cold, how he failed to get warm 
before the hottest fire ; the chills would run over 
him in front or rear, but, when the reaction comes, 
the fever sets in, and the man is " sick." 

Just as every man is said to have a "weak spot 
in his head," so nearly every man has a weak point 
somewhere in his body ; by weakness, meaning a 
want of power of resistance to keep off the 
enemy, disease. 

As before described, in a cold, the blood, is driven 
to the interior of the body, flooding it, as it were. 
The heart is always strong and able to protect 
itself, it throws the blood back ; not so with the 
lungs, and stomach, and bowels, and kidneys, and 
other parts, and, whichever of them is weaker than 
is natural, has to " bear the brunt " of the battle. 

If the bowels are weak, the person has " loose- 
ness," called diarrhoea, and the cold " works itself 
off " in that way, they are relieved, and the man 
gets well ; some persons are impatient and take a 
dose of castor oil, and set the bowels to " working 
off" the cold in a similar manner. Another man 
has weak eyes, the cold settles there, and the "eyes 



02 . DYSPEPSIA. 



r» 



water." Others again have weak lungs and* tho 
result is " a bad cold M or pneumonia, that is in- 
flammation of the lungs, etc.; thus it is that a 
cold affects different persons differently. 

If a person neglects a cold forty-eight hours, 
nothing will " cure it ;" it will run its course, in 
spite of everything, like measles, in about two 
weeks; but if "little colds " are added from time 
to time, the cure is protracted into months, ending 
in a hacking cough, and then follows consumption. 

If a cold is properly attacked the instant chilli- 
ness comes on, it can be certainly bured, and gen- 
erally so if, within twenty-four hours, the person 
will go to bed, wrap up warm, and stay there '* 
day or two, eating nothing but apples, oranges, 
grapes, berries, etc., in their natural state, and 
drinking nothing but hot beef teas, thus keeping 
the body in a slightly perspiring condition ; especi- 
ally keep the feet warm ; if very chilly at first, put 
bottles of hot water in the arm pits. . The sooner a 
person attends to these thing after taking the cold, 
after the first sense of chilliness, the more prompt 
and infallible will be the cure. Never go outside 
the door when you have a cold, and live on fruits 
and coarse bread for two or three days. Every 
time a dyspeptic takes a cold, he is thrown back 



CHECKING PERSPIRATION. 53 

in the treatment, and sometimes it requires two or 
three weeks or more to regain what was lost, not 
taking into account the bodily sufferings endured 
in the meantime through debilitating diarrhoeas, 
distressing pains in the stomach, head, or spine, 
according to circumstances : hence special atten- 
tion is invited to the following article as additional 
warning on the subject of taking cold : 

CHECKING PEBSPIBATION. 

Edward Everett, the finished scholar, the accom- 
plished diplomatist, the orator, the statesman, the 
patriot, became overheated in testifying in a 
court-room, on a Monday morning, went to Fanueil 
Hall, which was cold, sat in the draft of air until 
his turn came to speak; "but my hands and feet 
were ice, my lungs on fire. In this condition I had 
to go and spend three hours in the court-room." 
He died in less than a week from this checking of 
the perspiration. It was enough to kill any man. 

Professor Mitchel, the gallant soldier, and the 

most eloquent astronomical lecturer who has ever 

lived, while in a state of perspiration in yellow 

fever, the certain sign of recovery, left his bed, 

went into another room, became chilled in a moment 

and died the same night. 
4 



54 DYSPEPSIA. 

If while perspiring, or while something warmer 
than usual, from exercise or a heated room, there 
is a sudden exposure in stillness to a still, cold air, 
or to a raw, damp atmosphere, or to a draft, 
whether at an open window or door, or street- 
corner, an inevitable result is a violent and instan- 
taneous closing of the pores of the skin, by which 
waste and impure matters, which were making 
their way out of the system, are compelled to seek 
an exit through some other channel, and break 
through some weaker part, not the natural one, 
and harm to that part is the result. The idea is 
presented by saying that the cold has settled in 
that part. To illustrate : 

A lady was about getting into a small boat to 
cross the Delaware ; but wishing to get an orange 
at a fruit-stand, she ran up the bank of the river, 
and on her return to the boat found herself much 
heated, for it was summer, but there was a little 
wind on the water, and the clothing soon felt cold 
to her ; the next morning she had a severe cold, 
which settled on her lungs, and within the year 
she died of consumption. 

A stout, strong man was working in a garden in 
May ; feeling a little tired about noon he sat 
down in the shade of the house and fell asleep ; he 



CHECKING PERSPIRATION. 55 

woke up chilly ; inflammation of the lungs followed, 
ending, after two years of great suffering, in con- 
sumption. On opening his chest there was such 
an extensive decay, that the yellow matter was 
scooped out by the cupful. 

A Boston ship-owner, while on the deck of one of 
his vessels, thought he would " lend a hand " in 
some emergency; and pulling off his coat, 
worked with a will, until he perspired freely, when 
he sat down to rest awhile, enjoying the delicious 
breeze from the sea. On attempting to rise he 
found himself unable, and was so stiff in his joints 
that he had to be carried home and put to bed, 
which he did not leave until the end of two years 
when he was barely able to hobble down to the 
wharf on crutches. 

A lady, after being unusually busy all day, found 
herself heated and tired toward sundown. She 
concluded she would rest herself by taking a drive 
to town in an open vehicle. The ride made her 
uncomfortably cool, but she warmed herself up by 
an hour's shopping, when she turned homeward ; 
it being late in the evening, she found herself more 
decidedly chilly ihan before. At midnight she had 
pneumonia (inflammation of the lungs), and in 



56 DYSPEPSIA. 

three months had the ordinary symptoms of con- 
firmed consumption. 

A lady of great energy of character lost her cook 
and had to take her place for four days ; the kit- 
chen was warm, and there was a draft of air 
through it. When the work was done, warm and 
weary, she went to her chamber, and laid down on 
the bed to rest herself. This operation was 
repeated several times a day. On the fifth day she 
had an attack of lung fever ; at the end of six 
months she was barely able to leave her chamber, 
only to find herself suffering with all the more pro- 
minent symptoms of confirmed consumption ; such 
as quick pulse, night and morning cough, night* 
sweats, debility, short breath, and falling away. 

A young lady rose from her bed on a November 
night, and leaned her arm on the cold window-sill 
to listen to a serenade. Next morning she had 
pneumonia, and suffered the horrors of asthma for 
the remainder of a long life. 

Multitudes of women lose health and life every 
year, in one or two ways ; by busying themselves 
in a warm kitchen until weary, and then throwing 
themselves on a bed or sofa, without covering, and 
perhaps in a room without fire ; or by removing 
the outer clothing, and perhaps changing the dress 



CHECKING PERSPIRATION. C7 

for a more common one, as soon as they enter the 
house after a walk or a shopping. The rule should 
be invariable to go at once to a warm room and 
keep on all the clothing at least five or ten minutes 
until the forehead is perfectly dry. In all weathers 
if you have to walk and ride on any occasion, do 
the riding first, for then the walk will warm you, 
but if you get heated by walking and then sit still 
in a vehicle, especially if there is an open window, 
a chill is inevitable. 

A young man who was recovering from a tedious 
and dangerous disease, in walking from a physi- 
cian's office to take an omnibus, became overheated. 
A young lady sat at the front of the vehicle before 
the open window. He felt the chill air, but did 
not like to ask to have the window closed. Before 
he reached his destination, he was " chilled through 
and through," with the result of an attack of in- 
flammation of the lungs, from the effects of which 
he died. 

" Checking Perspiration " means cooling-off too 
soon after exercise or work which has made the 
body warmer than natural ; this is done most 
easily, if a person thus a little warm, sits in a draft 
at an open window or door, or stands still for even 



53 DYSPEPSIA, 

a minute or two at the corner of the street, where 
there is always more or less air stirring. 

When it is taken into account how many persons 
have attributed their sickness to having " taken a 
little cold," and how many of the friends of our 
youth have died from this cause, we may well be 
always on our guard against " checking perspira- 
tion," and should diligently, patiently, and consci- 
entiously teach the lesson to our children, and even 
read these facts to them once a year. 

BATHS AND BATHING.* 

So many persons are in the habit of bathing 
more or less, that in most cases when a physician 
has given his prescription, some inquiry is made 
as to whether the bathing shall be continued. In 
dyspeptics, the blood is said to be poor and cold, as 
well as impure, making it very easy to take a cold, 
or to renew it, always aggravating the disease ; in- 
creasing the dyspepsia, if the force of the cold falls 
on the stomach, while if it attacks the brain or 

* The articles on "Baths and Bathing," "Taking Cold," "Checking 
Perspiration," and one or two others, were written expressly for the Illustra- 
ted Christian Weekly, published at 150 Nassau street, New York, at $2.50 
a-year, by The American Tract Society, one of the most useful, beautiful, and 
unexceptionable weekly papers for families of culture and refinement issued 
heretofore. 



BATHS AND BATHING. 59 

nervous system, distressing pains, if not more 
serious results, are sure to follow, and to retard the 
cure ; hence it is thought desirable to make the 
following suggestions on the general subject, especi- 
ally as it is a continuation of the preceding pages 
on taking colds and checking perspiration : 

Long before Priessnitz was born, cold water and 
warm water were known to be valuable agencies in 
the promotion of health and in the cure of disease, 
and so have the medical profession regarded them 
for centuries : but the use of them has not been put 
forward prominently, because of their dangerous 
character, on account of the ignorance, careless- 
ness, and want of experience in their application 
on the part of the masses. This has been so 
apparent of late years that the most able hydro- 
pathists, among whom may be named Trail 
and Jackson, have repeatedly taken occasion in 
their respective periodicals to reprehend their indis- 
criminate application. It is for this that so many 
" cold-water cures " in different parts of the coun- 
try have failed to be self-supporting with all their 
advantages of pure water, mountain air, and mag- 
nificent scenery. Like any other powerful reme- 
dial agent for the cure of disease, even cold water 
must be used with judgment, as a result of close 



60 DYSPEPSIA. 

observation, long practice, and intelligent applica- 
tion. 

There can be no uniform rule generally appli- 
cable for cold bathing, because almost every indivi- 
dual must be a rule for himself in view of his age, 
his temperament, his constitution, his habits of life, 
the state of his health, and the character of any 
ailment which he may have. I have seen cold 
water applied to an apparently dying missionary 
on the banks of the distant Mississippi over forty 
years ago. Intelligence was gone, the teeth set, 
the eyes glazed, the pulse almost imperceptible ; in 
fifteen minutes he sat up and conversed intelli- 
gently with the friends around him. 

On the other hand, medical authorities give cases 
where persons not much sick have died in an hour 
from the application of cold water. Last summer 
a New York banker went home from Wall Street, 
after a day of unusual excitement, weary, depressed, 
tired, and over-heated. He thought a cool bath 
would refresh him ; he died that night. The 
papers stated that the immediate cause of the 
fatal attack of illness of Vice-President Wilson, 
whom a nation truly mourns, was a bath. If a 
man of his age, intelligence, and judgment, erred 
fatally in the matter of taking a bath, it will re- 



BATHS AND BATHING. 61 

quire a long time for the masses to be educated up 
to the point of safe bathing, either cold or hot. 

A gentleman at the Astor House took a cold, 
was advised to take a Turkish bath, did so, return- 
ed to his lodgings, was taken ill the same night ; at 
the end of four weeks and at an expense of several 
hundred dollars, it was thought he might be taken 
to a carriage at the door on a litter in order to go 
home. He had gone out of his bath facing a cold, 
raw north-east wind, became thoroughly chilled ; 
hence the result. One would suppose that his own 
intelligence, and more notably so, that of the bath- 
keeper's, ought to have told him better. The in- 
telligent reader may recall instances coming under 
his own observation of ill-results from both cold 
and warm bathing. 

It is for reasons like these that educated medical 
men all over the world are not forward in recom- 
mending baths and bathing as a remedy for sick- 
ness, except in the comparatively few cases where 
a wise application can be certainly calculated upon. 

The subject cannot be discussed in a single short 
article, hence bare facts only are submitted to the 
consideration of the intelligent reader. 



62 DYSPEPSIA. 

A warm bath once a week and a hand-air bath 
night and morning are of universal application, and 
would, if generally used, do less injury and more 
promote health than daily cold or warm water 
bathing, as now generally understood and prac- 
tised. 

The warm bath above, in fire-time of year, means 
a good washing of the whole body once a week with 
soap and warm water, with the aid of the naked 
hand alone, or sponge, in a room measuring seventy 
degrees of Fahrenheit, and the water quite as 
warm, or warmer. 

The hand-air bath means rubbing the hands 
vigorously all over the surface of the body as far 
as can be reached ; all garments but stockings laid 
aside; mouth shut, and with such activity as will 
keep off the slightest feeling of chilliness ; keep it 
up five minutes and dress quickly. The effect of 
this is to expose the whole surface to the air, to 
ventilate it, to remove from the skin any scales or 
other solid particles which might obstruct its pores, 
leaving it in that soft and slightly oily condition 
which gives the mobility characteristic of the 
healthy skin of an infant. If all the natural oil of 
the skin is was-ied from the body night and morn- 



BATHS AND BATHING. 63 

ing, it is to that extent left harsh and dry, which 
is precisely the opposite of the healthy skin. 

Anatomists tell us that the skin of the human 
body is really a series of scales,* as in the fish. If 
the " slime " on the fish is removed the scales 
will not slide over each other as they do, and the 
fish would die, because that is a secretion designed 
not only to repel water, but to facilitate the motion 
of one scale over another. It doe3 not seem an 
unreasonable conclusion that it would be as great 
a violence to nature to remove her lubricating 
material from the skin of man as from the scales 
of the fish. The fact is, patiently rubbing oil into 
the dry skin will cure fever, it will cure a cold on 
the chest of an infant, and other maladies besides. 
Oil is as valuable a remedy to-day as in Old Testa- 
ment times ; it was used eiternally ; the modern 
teachings of a certain class of minds are that it 
should be washed off as soon as it presents itself 
from nature's laboratory ; this cannot be wise, 
safe, or healthful, although to many it may seem 
" very reasonable," 



Ci PERILS OF WATER CURE. 



PERILS OF WATEE CUBE. 

» 

Even the application of cool or warm water, as a 
remedial means, is not without its good and ill 
effects, undoubtedly beneficial when carefully and 
judiciously applied, but, far otherwise if atten- 
ded to by the ignorant, or careless, or negligently by 
those who do not understand it well. Miss B. 
attended a place of amusement and returned home 
about eleven o'clock at night, feeling somewhat 
chilly ; the sleep was not refreshing, and in the 
morning there was not observed the joyousness and 
life which was peculiar to her. She had no appe- 
tite for breakfast and during the whole day there 
was a degree of listlesness and quiet, very unusual 
to her, and in such striking contrast with her every 
day life, that a physician was called, who, within a 
day or two, seeing the symptoms were grave, 
advised a consultation, and another gentleman was 
invited to examine the case ; the conclusion was 
that nothing was to be expected from medicine, but 
if perspiration could be excited, it would relieve that 
oppression of the internal organs which seemed 
tending to typhoid fever. The gentleman who was 
called in consultation was considered an experi- 



DYSPEPSIA. 65 

enced, capable physician, and having had consider- 
able practice in what is called the " wet sheet," or 
pack. He had acquired a skill and judgment in its 
application, which usually enabled him to accom- 
plish uniformly valued results. The patient was 
wrapped in a wet sheet, and in due time a health- 
ful warmth and perspiration were observable with an 
encouraging relief of all the interior organs ; observ- 
ing which, he left the remainder of the manage- 
ment to inexperienced h°nds, with the result that 
the favorable symptoms gradually disappeared, to 
be replaced by those which were more grave, and 
the interesting patient died in a day or two, in her 
nineteenth year, notwithstanding all that wealth 
and social position, and devoted friends and loving 
parents could do ; the cherished and admired of all 
who knew her, to be remembered for long years to 
come, for her cheery face, her laughing eyes, her 
joyous mood, and her affectionate ways, and most 
by him whose bride she would soon have been. 

It is very true that man is born to die, and that 
the day comes to all which must be the last on 
earth ; and the history of those who have ever died 
of disease or will ever die of sickness will make the 
fact notable that the heedless hurry in doing or 
omitting some little thing ; failing to take advan- 



60 PERILS OF WATER CURE, 

tage of some little circumstance, seemingly so to ub, 
but in this case, humanly speaking, and in the 
light of our short forecast, the strong presumption 
is that had the physician remained at his post 
and closely observed the indications and needs oj 
the case, the interesting patient would have been 

ALIVE AND WELL 

to-day, for evidently there was recuperative power 
left, there was life enough for living ; the violence 
of the disease had passed, and good nursing only 
was required, because there was such a ready 
answer to the means of perspiration, and as prompt 
a response to the healthful effects, which only 
needed to have been kept up ; a striking illustra- 
tion of the sentiment first advanced, that the water 
cure requires too much intelligence, judgment, 
observation, skill, experience, tact, and wise watch- 
fulness, to be placed in common hands, or to be 
employed by the masses, and hence the numerous 
failures of success in the multitude of 

WATER CUKES 

which have been set up in all parts of our country, 
not failures on account of their inherent value, but 



DYSPEPSIA, 6? 

on account of their reckless and ignorant adminis- 
tration, hence 

BATHS AND BATHINGS 

in water are not advised as remedial means in dys- 
pepsia, although they appear so "reasonable, 
and can do no harm if they do no good," as is 
claimed for them. One good washing and scrub- 
bing with soap and brush and warm water in a 
room of seventy or eighty degrees, once a week, 
being ail that the dyspeptic usually requires in 
connection with the 

HAND AIR BATHS 

every night and morning, performed with a will. 
To take another practical look at the case, first 
narrated the dyspeptic may learn a valuable lesson. 
It can not be supposed that a slight chilliness 
could have inaugurated such a series of symptoms, 
finally ending fatally under any usual circum- 
stances, or in any person of good health ; there 
must have been in this case -some hidden causes in 
operation whose tendency was to weaken the gen- 
eral system, working and working for weeks and 
months, using up the stamina of life, and leaving 
less power to resist the onset of any disease pro- 
ducing effects. 



6S DYSPEPSIA. 



INDIGESTION. 



Indigestion is a Latin word, meaning the same 
thing, in a general way, as the Greek term from 
which the word dyspepsia is taken. The Greeks 
had an idea that the digestion was performed with 
difficulty, whereas the Romans thought it was not 
performed at all ; or, at most, imperfectly, which is 
more accurate and more philosophical ; for really, 
the food is not healthfully digested, does not make 
healthy blood, does not impart natural nutriment to 
it ; for it is through the blood that nourishing and 
renovating particles are carried to every pin-point 
of the body ; hence, no portion of it is properly 
nourished, and all dyspeptics lack strength and 
vigor and elasticity. But when the blood is not 
made of a healthy material it steadily becomes 
impure and thick and black ; is significantly called 
by the people " bad blood ; " it does not flow freely, 
becomes congested, accumulates, " dams up " in the 
veins, distends them ; and as this unnatural quality 
of blood is carried to all parts of the body, it pro- 
duces disquietude, discomfort, and annoyance of 
some kind wherever it goes, and that is the reason 
why a dyspeptic v/ill tell you that he " feels bad all 



INDIGESTION. C9 

over." But the nerves are fed by this same blood, 
and, being impure and imperfect, it does not satisfy 
them, it does not feed them, and each one, like a 
hungry man, complains, is disgusted, and restless 
and weak ; hence dyspeptics are said to be " ner- 
vous;" they are fidgety always, and always com- 
plaining. 

EATING TOO MUCH. 

Dj^speptics generally eat a great deal, yet are 
always hungry, for the instincts are misled thus : 
the blood being imperfect, the system is imperfectly 
nourished, hence imperfectly strengthened, conse- 
quently weak ; and nature, knowing as it were that 
food strengthens, calls for more food, when it is not 
more food that is needed, but more nourishment. 
The dyspeptic eats enough, in fact too much, but 
the nutriment is not extracted from it, the stomach 
not having the power to act upon the food properly; 
it then very naturally follows, that when the 
stomach does not have strength enough to digest a 
large amount of food, it might have the power to 
digest a smaller quantity, as a faithful invalid ser- 
vant may not have the power to do a large amount 
of work, but could perform a smaller quantity. 
And yet, when persons are dyspeptic, instead of 



70 DYSPEPSIA. 

eating less, the very common practice is to take 
bitters and tonics, in the shape of wines and 
liquors, to whet up the appetite, to promote diges- 
tion ; but liquor is not gastric juice, consequently 
cannot facilitate the digestion, and even if it 
increased the appetite, it is directly the reverse of 
what ought to be done : for the appetite is already 
too great, is unnaturally vigorous. So do men, 
through ignorance, medicate themselves, aggravate 
their maladies, and are hurried into untimely 
graves. Medicine never did and never can cure 
dyspepsia ; the true remedy is to eat less and less 
at each meal, until no discomfort is felt afterwards; 
continue this for a short time, and then gradually 
increase the amount eaten, as a convalescent gradu- 
ally increases exercise or labor, in proportion to the 
gradually increasing strength ; but as often as dis- 
comfort follows after eating — that is, any feeling or 
sensation which attracts the attention unpleasantly 
— diminish the food to the requisite amount, as 
before stated. This is the true key to the allevia- 
tion and cure of our national disease, dyspepsia, 

EATING TOO OFTEN". 

While eating too much causes one case of dys- 
pepsia, eating too often causes a hundred, if not ten 



INDIGESTION. 71 

thousand ; some of the Indian trappers in the 
Rocky Mountains rise early, hunt all day for their 
game, come to camp at night, eat six or seven 
pounds of meat, lie down to sleep, and live a hun- 
dred years. An old beau in the Federal city, in 
Henry Clay's time, attended every party to which 
he was invited ; but if, at any time, he was unex- 
pectedly called after his regular meal, he would go, 
help himself bountifully, but would not eat any- 
thing next day, so as to average only one meal in 
twenty-four hours ; he lived beyond fourscore, a 
lively, joyous " old boy/' Greenland is not depop- 
ulated, yet the Esquimaux eat once a day, or week, 
or more, five, ten, and even twenty pounds of pro- 
visions at a single meal ; and sometimes when they 
have strength to eat no longer, some one puts the 
food in their mouths for them. One man is reported 
to have gone to sleep with part of a sausage hang- 
ing out of his mouth. 

This is a matter of habit and custom. Steady 
workers should eat three times a day. Some have 
lived to old age, eating but twice a day, others only 
once ; in this latter case eating becomes a disgust- 
ing gluttony. 

Until fifty it is better to eat thrice a day, noth- 
bg whatever between. If workers eat but twice a 



72 DYSPEPSIA. 

day, the system is so ravenous for food that it is 
very apt to be over-pressed and to fall into disease. 
After fifty, sedentary persons may do very well 
with two meals a day. It is very certain that 
many persons have been cured of the ordinary forms 
of dyspepsia by taking but two meals and rigidly 
avoiding anything between. The advantage of 
this is that the stomach has abundant time to rest 
and to accumulate a large amount of gastric juice, 
and if little or nothing is drank to dilute it and 
thus destroy its strength, the food is dissolved 
rapidly, provided the person eats very slowly and 
chews everything well; with these precautions the 
stomach is not over-filled and the appetite ia 
gratified without having eaten too much. Some who 
have become very much weakened by having had 
indigestion for a long time, or from other causes, 
cannot wait four or five or six hours, for the stom- 
ach gets so weak in that time that it loses the 
power to digest anything. In these cases such 
food should be taken as can be digested in a short 
time. If those articles are eaten which are known 
to be digested fully in two hours then another meal 
may be taken in three hours and so on. This 
should be continued until the patient becomes 
strong enough to walk a mile or two, when it may 



INDIGESTION. 73 

be advantageous to eat less often until two or three 
meals in twenty-four hours will be advisable. But 
in almost all cases where the person eats but two 
or three times a day, very great advantages will 
be derived from eating grapes, half a pound and up 
lo a pound, before each meal, in such a way that 
the eating is finished half an hour before the 
meal, and, if it is at all practicable, they should be 
eaten, a grape at a time, while a person is walking 
in the open air in a good frame of mind, and if it 
amounts to the agreeable and even pleasurable, it 
will be very much better and will certainly speed 
the restoration to the natural condition of things 
and to good health. And the reader must see, 
that if no medicine is given, every little thing 
should be taken advantage of, as 

MANY RILLS MAKE A RIVER, 

In all cases of eating grapes the skin should be 
ejected. If the bowels are toose the skin should be 
chewed well so as to get out of it the fluid sub- 
stance which it contains, which is decidedly con- 
stringing as it is known to have astringent 
powers. If the person is confined, does not 
have one action of the bowels, full and free, in 

every twenty-four hours, the seeds should be 
5 



74 DYSPEPSIA. 

swallowed, as they have the mechanical effect to 
stimulate the mucous surfaces by their friction to 
pour out an extra amount of fluid, as the eye does 
when touched ; this fluid dissolves the hardened con- 
tents, acting as an injection, and is thus a more 
natural means. 

The pulp of the grapes is nutritious and has a 
sub-acid which is believed by European physicians 
to have a stimulating action on the liver ; hence, in 
some cases, four or five or more pounds of grapes 
are required to be eaten every day in the open air, 
and very little other food ; oatmeal porridge, wheat- 
en grits, stirabout, or other forms of coarse cereal 
food being taken half an hour after the grapes. 

If a person is really anxious to get rid of his dys- 
pepsia in the shortest time possible, and wishes to 
encourage himself in the belief of speedy restora- 
tion, it would be well to adopt the full plan on the 
instant, beginning with the very next meal — thus : 
take half a pound of grapes in the open air, to be 
finished half an hour before meal-time, eat nothing 
at the meal, but as much of the porridge, grits, or 
stirabout (mush) as may be pleasurably taken, but 
to be diminished if discomfort is experienced after- 
wards. A little fresh lean meat may be added. 
Many persons are very anxious to take milk with 



INDIGESTION. 75 

the articles above named under the impression that 
it is "very healthy ;" it certainly is for infants and 
pigs, and puppies, and lambs, and rabbits, and 
mice, and such like ; and for them it is intended, 
but not for long, in any case, because nature dries 
up the fountain. Hard-working persons, farmers 
and the like, may take sweet milk at their meals 
with impunity, for years together, but they are 
healthy in spite of it ; not on account of it. Per- 
sons of an 

INQUIRING TURN OF MIND, 

whose lives are sedentary, may make the experi- 
ment for themselves and drink largely of luscious, 
fresh sweet milk, at each of the three daily meals 
for a week, and note for themselves. Not many 
will care to repeat the experiment. 

The articles named may be made very palatable 
by sprinkling on them a little salt, at one time, 
sugar at another, or use butter or syrups alter- 
nately. If the dyspeytic is really hungry as he ought 
to be before he eats anything, he will be glad to 
get any of the articles named, and it is not at all 
likely that they will disagree with the stomach of 
any hungry person. And although the patient may 
not " feel like " eating porridge or cracked wheat, 



76 DYSPEPSIA. 

and may have no inclination to do so, he is advised 
to wait until he does feel as if they would 

TASTE GOOD. 

The dyspeptic should have force of character, 
determination, and self-denial ; the proper exercise 
of these will add to the certainty and rapidity of 
his recovery. If the grapes or other fruits are 
thus taken before each of the three daily meals, it 
will be eating but thrice a day, which is not too 
often, although many will do better to eat but twice, 

THE PRISON CURE. 

In any ordinary case, dyspepsia can be uniformly 
cured by a proper attention to two of the points 
above named — regulating the eating, steady em- 
ployment in the open air for six or eight hours or 
more between sunrise and sunset. It is certainly 
corroborative of the truth of this statement that 
persons sent to penal institutions, which are sys- 
tematically and properly conducted, always get 
well of dyspepsia, if they have it, because they eat 
regularly of plain nourishing food at regular times, 
and at no others, and are kept steadily at work, in 
moderate labor, and that, too, under all the depres- 
sing circumstances connected with their condition. 



CONSUMPTION 77 

they eat plentifully but not often ; not " tit-bits/' 
not the wing of a "sucking dove," but plain, nutri- 
tious food; no bitters, no tonics, no liquor. This is 
most suggestive. 

CONSUMPTION. 

Standard medical writers are agreed that the 
largest number of dyspeptics and consumptives, 
especially among women, are made in the teens of 
girlhood. Dyspepsia naturally leads to consump- 
tion, because being imperfectly nourished, the 
unfortunate grow thin, their blood is poor, their 
circulation languid ; hence they are chilly, take 
cold easily ; in fact, " the least thing in the world " 
gives them a cold, which is more and more easily 
renewed, until before one cold gets well they take 
another, and the cold is continued ; and that is the 
seed of consumption, to sprout up and spread and 
grow, like some baneful weed, to eat out all life's 
substance, and the hectic and the grave close the 
sad history. Thus, there is scarcely a family of any 
size which cannot point to some dyspeptic or con- 
sumptive daughter brought about thus : Girls are 
around the house all the time ; as they are growing, 
the appetite is vigorous, they are always ready to 
eat; and as they are passing about through 



78 DYSPEPSIA. 

kitchen, pantry, or hall, the eye is pretty sure to 
fall on something "good," which they are very 
sure to take — an apple, an orange, cake, cookie, or 
pie, thus deranging the process of digestion by 
keeping the stomach always at work, giving it no 
rest, causing it finally to give out from over- work. 
But while this is going on, the parents wake up to 
the fact that their daughter has no appetite for 
breakfast. She may sit down to the table, but it 
is only to nibble and to sip. The mother puts 
away her breakfast for her to be eaten later ; or, if 
she is going to school, an appetizing bit of cake or 
pie is added, clogging the stomach and making it 
impossible to be healthily hungry at the regular 
dinner-time. Then dinner is set aside, and, being 
eaten too late in the day, the sleep is dreamy, and 
the morning comes with an unrested body and a 
weary brain, incapable of applying itself to the 
studies for the day. There is no alacrity in the 
comprehension, the very effort to study is -painful, 
and she finds it a fruitless task. Then she becomes 
uneasy and anxious about the marks and "fail- 
ures " in the lessons ; this takes away all appetite 
for food ; she leaves home for school weak, worried, 
and depressed. And this is 



childken's eating. 79 

" school-life" 

to many, too many, of our daughters, who are thus 

trained to a tedious invalidism, or to an over-early 

grave, instead of a long and useful and enjoyable 

career. 

childeen's eating. 

No child, no one, man or woman, is well who 
comes to the breakfast table without an appetite. 
If this happens on]y occasionally, it is ground for 
disquietude, and if habitual for young girls, it is 
cause for alarm, because it is very sure to be fol- 
lowed with cold feet, headache, chilliness, the fore- 
runners of troublesome ailments always, and some- 
times of incurable disease. There can be but little 
doubt that the dyspeptics of the nation would be 
diminished one-half in a few years if children were 
not sent to school until seven years of age, and 
were not allowed to eat anything between the 
three regular meals of the day, except an apple or 
an orange. The subject merits the thoughtful con- 
sideration of every conscientious parent. Mothers, 
especially, are under great responsibilities in this 
connection. 



CONSEOUENCES OF DYSPEPSIA. 

When the stomach becomes dyspeptic, disease ia 
transmuted to other parts of the system in two 
ways. First, through the blood ; second by sym- 
pathy, nervous connection ; or no good blood is 
made by the dyspeptic; because the food being 
imperfectly digested, cannot afford that healthful 
nutriment to the nerves which feed on it, and 
which they require; and, as a result, they complain, 
become debilitated from want of nourishment, then 
follows irritability and a variety of diseased mani- 
festations or symptoms, dependent upon the part 
affected, and the age, sex, constitution, and tem- 
perament of the patient. 

The blood being imperfect, becomes poor, and 
does not contain the nutriment necessary to sustain 
the structure of the muscles and bones and sinews 
of the body ; hence, dyspeptics are always deficient 
in strength. This deficiency is not confined to 
voluntary motion, to ability to labor, it extends to 
every function of the system, to all its manufac- 
tories; they are not carried on with healthful 
vigor ; their products are neither perfect nor pure ; 
and do not accomplish the designs intended ; hence, 

(SO) 



CONSEQUENCES OF DYSPEPSIA. 81 

the whole machinery of the body is out of order, 
and to such an extent, sometimes, that there is 
neither the disposition nor strength to work ; effort 
is painful, it is a labor to think; study is impossi- 
ble; and, under a sense of prostration of tho 
whole body, the patient sometimes feels as if he 
were 

GOING TO DIE. 

The blood is not only imperfect and poor, it is 
impure ; and just in proportion as that is the caso, 
it is thick ; it does not flow through the blood ves- 
sels as freely as it ought to do ; the propulsive 
power of the heart may send it along the larger 
arteries ; but it does not reach their extremities 
in necessary amounts, hence the skin is dry, and 
rough, and cold ; and the dyspeptic complains of 
being chilly if exposed to the slightest wind, and 
cannot go out of doors without 

MUFFLING UP, 

r 

when the healthy feel that the weather is balmy 
and delightful. Under these conditions, the dys- 
peptic finds that 

"the least thing in the world," 

gives him a cold ; the causes being so slight some- 



82 DYSPEPSIA. 

times, that it is almost impossible for him to find 
out how he did take cold; but it has been taken, 
and the result is, that the stomach being the 
weaker part, feels the effect of it most. Sometimes 
the whole force of the cold falls on that organ ; in- 
creasing its debility and making it more and more 
unable to perform its functions ; with the result of 
aggravating every symptom. In the course of time 
the patient learns that the slightest out door expo- 
sure gives him a cold and gradually growing more 
and more nervous in the fear of this, all his pre- 
cautions are in that direction ; and, being under 
the impression that going out of doors gives him a 
cold, he goes out less and less, is more easily deter- 
ed by wind and weather : and, allowing so many 
things to keep him from 

TAKING A WALK, 

he is, before he knows it, confined to his house, 

with the result, that his circulation becomes more 

feeble, his digestion more imperfect, his blood 

poorer and colder, requiring him to wear more cloth- 

i 
ing in the house, to keep up larger fires, and to 

sleep in warmer rooms ; all ending in making him 

a confirmed invalid. 

In all this, nothing has been said about pain ; 

about actual suffering ; but this comes on apace ; 



CONSEQUENCES OF DYSPEPSIA. 83 

• 

for if the blood does not force itself along the extre- 
mities of the arteries with all the pumping power 
of the heart, much less will it travel along the veins, 
to find its way back to the lungs for purification 
and a new life ; hence, it stagnates in the smaller 
branches of the veins; becomes impacted, plugged 
up, 

CONGESTED, 

distending their sides ; pushing, swelling in every 
direction ; filling up ; making some dyspeptics ap- 
pear as fat as a 

BUTTER BALL. 

But it is mere puff and water; there is no strength, 
no endurance, no stamina. In others however, 
there is a very different result. This distension of 
the blood vessels causes them to press against 
other parts, crowds them ; and when this pressure 
comes against a nerve, it cries out, and 

THAT IS PAIN ,' THAT IS NEURALGIA. 

All are familiar with how a slight touch on the nerve 
of a tooth will cause a person to start or shiver or 
squirm. These pressures of distended veins on the 
nerves, are most decided in those parts of the sys- 
tem which are weakest, or which have been injured 



84* DYSPEPSIA. 

previously ; hence it is, that persons sometimes 
find themselves ailing in a part which had suffer- 
ed violence, five, ten, or twenty years before ; and 
which they thought was entirely well. Sometimes 
this returning of an old pain, is the only " symp- 
tom " that a dyspeptic has ; he has no suspicion 
that he has dyspepsia ; as no wrong feeling had 
been noticed aboat the stomach. Any one having 
this experience, should at once consider himself 
falling into dyspepsia ; should promptly adopt the 
means proposed for a confirmed dyspeptic, and per- 
sist in their employment until 

" THE OLD PAIN " 

has completely disappeared, and continue it for 
some time longer, in proportion to the duration of 
the efforts required for removal. This revival of 
the old pain will probably be a kind of thermo- 
meter, or friendly monitor, to the patient for the 
remainder of his life, and his wisdom will be to 
put himself on the treatment, the very first day he 
notices even slight 

MUTTERINGS 

of coming things in the part affected; and the 
result will be, that such a person will live longer 



CONSEQUENCES OF DYSPEPSIA. 85 

than he would otherwise have done; being compelled 
to carefulness and temperance. 

In other parts of the system, this congested blood 
in the veins, in consequence of its impurity and 
increased thickness, as a result of indigestion, 
brings about other results, according to the organ 
which most feels the effects, in consequence of its 
having been injured in some way or some time in 
the past. 

A BILIOUS 

person is one whose " liver is out of order," more 
or less often ; showing that by inheritance or tem- 
perament or condition or accident, it has not that 
healthful vigor, necessary to the proper perform- 
ance of its work, which is twofold. All the blood 
sent to the different and distant parts of the body 
through the arteries for purposes of imparting 
nourishment and warmth and strength and life, i& 
returned through the veins deprived of all these, 
and, instead, loaded with the impurities and wastes 
of the system ; in passing through the liver, these 
impurities are separated by it, and the product of 
that separation is called 

BILE. 

If the liver does not perform its part, does not do 
its work, these impurities remain in the blood ; and 



86 DYSPEPSIA. 

if that continues, there is so much bile in the blood 
that it becomes the color of bile, and that discolor- 
ed blood, being sent to the surface tinges it and the 
skin is yellow, sometimes, in excessive cases, 

AS YELLOW AS A PUMPKIN, 

and is called mere biliousness, or jaundice, or 
yellow fever, according to season and degree. In 
slight cases, the yellowness is only observed in the 
whites of the eyes. It is not meant to say that 
yellow fever is caused by dyspepsia, for it never 
proceeds to that extent; rarely, if ever, to the 
extent of causing jaundice, but merely to throw 
out the ideas and the fact that yellow fever and 
jaundice are the effects of 

A TORPID LIVEB, 

when that torpidity is carried to a great extent ; 
that torpidity being caused sometimes by dyspepsia, 
but in a comparatively slight degree. The second 
office of the liver is to convey the bile, after it has 
been separated from the blood, into the gall bladder ; 
but sometimes it stays there, and forms into hard 
lumps, having been transformed by chemical pro- 
cess, and we call them 



CONSEQUENCES OF DYSPEPSIA. 87 

GALL ST0NE3, 

which, in their passage out of the gall bladder, this 
passage being very small, called the gall duct, 
causes one of the most torturing pains that human 
nature can endure; often exciting inflamma- 
tion, which leads to a dreadful death, and which 
death a dyspeptic condition of the system can bring 
about. 

At other times, the bile, by being detained in the 
gall bladder, becomes inspissated, hardened, but 
not chemically changed ; the writer saw four little 
balls of hardened bile taken from the gall bladder 
of a lady ; they were round, hollow, of feathery 
lightness, arid of the size of a black cherry; these 
lodged against the entrance of the gall duct, and 
prevented the passage of the bile out of it. This 
lady became jaundice and died of cancer of the 
liver, an utterly incurable disease, and which dys- 
pepsia is capable of causing, when its effects fall 
upon the liver. 

But the bile may be detained in the gall bladder 
without turning into stone, or into feathery balls, 
merelv remaining there in its natural state, but in 
larger quantities than is normal. In a healthy 



88 DYSPEPSIA. 

condition of the system, this bile is passed into the 
intestine canal, drop by drop, after meals especially, 
at a point just below where the contents of the 
stomach pass into the same receptacle, and is a 
beautiful representation of the wise economies of 
nature ; for this bile is the refuse of the body, and 
must be passed out of it, or there can be no health ; 
on its entering the alimentary canal, it passes down- 
wards, carrying with it the contents of the intes- 
tines, by its chemical effect upon them; these 
effects do not cease until these contents, which are 
the refuse of food, are passed out of the body, 
this, in a natural, healthful state, takes place once in 
twenty-four hours ; if it does not take place, the 
result is 

CONSTIPATION. 

Thus, the refuse, worthless bile is made, in its pas- 
sage out of the body, to pay tribute to its well 
being, in causing daily defecations, without which 
there can be no real good health for one week 
together ; hence, dyspepsia may cause costiveness, 
which the grapes, and fruits, and oatmeal porridge, 
and wheaten grits, are intended to obviate ; but 
that particular diet has other, quite as important, 
objects to accomplish. 



CONSEQUENCES OF DYSPEPSIA. 89 

Thus it is seen that dyspepsia causes biliousness, 
laying the patient liable to attacks of bilious 
diarrhoeas and bilious colic, or cramp colic, so vio- 
lent sometimes as to be almost unendurable, threat- 
ening speedy death. To use opiates in such attacks 
is bad practice ; it makes the patient insensible to 
pain, but the causes of the pain are still in opera- 
tion, and valuable time is lost. % Instead of opium, 
or morphine, or laudanum, or paregoric, an efficient 
injection of tepid water should be employed, 01 
fomentations of flannels, dipped in boiling water, 
wrung out, and ]aid over the pit of the stomach, 
renewed every three minutes, until entire relief :s 
experienced ; sometimes getting into a warm bath 
is efficient, nothing out of the water except the 
head ; the water at first should be eighty degrees, 
and made warmer and warmer until relief is expe- 
rienced. 

The effects of these congestions, excited, or more 
immediately brought about by little colds, some- 
times fall on other parts of the system, causing 
head-aches, diarrhoeas, and nausea, and enormous 
accumulations of wind on the stomach, which may 
be relieved by a large draught of brandy or a table- 
spoonful or more of pulverized charcoal swallowed 

in half a glass of water, each atom of charcoal 
6 



90 DYSPEPSIA, 

absorbing very nearly twenty times its bulk of 
wind. 

At other times, the dyspepsia is manifested by 
unbearable burnings in the feet, flushes in the face, 
or fiery sensations along the spine, or intolerable 
neuralgias, which, in passing, it may be well to say, 
are promptly relivered by hot baths or hot 
fomentations to the ailing spot. 

The reader must bear in mind two things : first, 
that what is the ordinary symptom of dyspepsia 
to him, whether a load at the pit of the stomach, 
or rawness in the throat, or fiery sensation along 
the breast bone, extending from the stomach to the 
throat, may sometimes disappear, and he may im- 
agine that he has got rid of his old enemy, but at 
the same time, or soon after, he may notice a new 
ailment springing up in some other part of the 
body. This shows that the dyspepsia, instead oi 
being cured, has only been transferred to another 
locality, this transfer taking place by the operation 
of natural causes, or by the use of means of cure 
which have injured that part, when the last thing 
taken is regarded as the cure of the dyspepsia, and 
the person heralds the news to all who are willing 
to listen to him, and recommends the remedy with 
the most constant pertinacity ; being pretty sure to 



CONSEQUENCES OF DYSPEPSIA. 91 

add that it will do no harm, if it does no good ; 
enumerating the cases in which it was successful 
in consequence of his advice having been followed. 
The willing and credulous patient takes the pre- 
scription only to find that however much good it 
may have done to others, it was of no possible 
benefit to him, and this is the origin of an innu- 
merable multitude of much 

VAUNTED CURES. 

When symptoms of dyspepsia change in this way 
to other localities, to a pain in the face, or a rheu- 
matism in the joints, or a lameness in the muscles 
there is a very natural impression that if some- 
thing is done at the ailing spot, it can be cured ; 
but the result is that while many things alleviate 
the suffering, nothing cures, nothing eradicates, 
it constantly returns, the reason is, the seat of the 
disease, the real cause, is in the stomach, a foot or 
two or more away — in short, that it is the dyspep- 
sia misleading, making a false alarm, in all such 
cases. The dyspepsia must be attacked, and the 
remedies must be addressed to the stomach, and 
they must be such as will be adapted to strength- 
ening it, and enable it better to digest the food, first 
by giving it rest, and then by giving it work which 



92 DYSPEPSIA. 

is easy of performance, as it is believed the mods 
of living already marked out will accomplish in a 
great number of cases. 

The thoughtful reader will see in these state- 
ments how the young physician or one of limit- 
ed practice, is sometimes at a perfect loss, finds 
himself in an impenetrable fog. He applies a 
remedy to a certain spot, or to meet a certain symp- 
tom, it has acted 

LIKE A CHARM 

in a dozen or more cases, exactly like it to all ap- 
pearance but in this it does not act "like a charm " or 
like anything else, in fact it does not act at all, does 
no more good than would a handful of ashes on the 
part. Hence the importance, in consulting a phy- 
sician for any symptom of long standing, as the 
whole history of the patient should be minutely in- 
quired into and plainly spread out ; for lack of this, 
failures in curing what are called simple ailments, 
are constantly occurring; the remedies were not 
addressed to the proper point. 

Then comes a practical deduction of an impor- 
tance, literally incalculable, if a dyspeptic finds that 
his stomach ceases to incommode him, that the 
familiar ailment there has disappeared, and that 



CONSEQUENCES OF DYSPEPSIA. 93 

symptom appears in other parts of the body, he 
should persist in directing his remedies to the 
stomach, for the seat of the disease is there still, and 
if those efforts are such as have been already 
advised, he will generally be able at the end of 
forty-eight hours to note favorable results ; if so, 
persist in the treatment, if not, send for a skilful 
physician and waste no time in self-medication — in 
blind, blundering, hap-hazard attempts at the em- 
ployment of means which are as little understood 
as the object sought to be accomplished. 

No man of intelligence would attempt to mend an 
old shoe or repair his own watch, if a competent 
workman was at hand to do it ; but to attempt to 
put in order the disarranged and wonderfully com- 
plicated machinery of the system when impaired by 
disease, is the perfection of unwisdom, and yet, un- 
counted lives are sacrificed in this way, every year ; 
a dollar saved to 

PURCHASE DEATH. 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF DYSPEPSIA. 

When a dyspeptic purchases a book which treats 
of its cure, he wants to come at the point at once, 
see what the treatment is, study it, and then en- 
deavour to carry it out. After that, he begins to 
feel a desire of knowing more about the nature of 
the malady, its causes, its actions, its effects on the 
system, and the how and the why of a great many 
things connected with the stomach and eating. 
The knowledge of these is not essential to the cure, 
but with an intelligent and observing mind, the 
understanding of these things makes it more easy 
to carry out the treatment than if it were in the 
shape of a blind, unexplained direction ; hence it 
was thought better to propose the method of cure 
in all ordinary cases first, and then explain the 
reasons for that method in preference to all others, 
fortified by observed facts, which cannot be dis- 
puted. 

It has not been thought profitable to enter into 
minute philosophical disquisitions and nice distinc- 
tions about the meaning of words and phrases, but 
to speak of dyspepsia in the broad sense as it mani- 
fests itself among the people in ordinary cases ; for, 

( 94 ) 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF DYSPEPSIA. 95 

after all, the mode of treatment which will cure 
any one curable case will cure another ; and il is 
considered very safe to say, and a very moderate 
claim, that the dietic plan proposed will very cer- 
tainly cure four cases out of five. 

If one or more vegetables or other articles of food 
are boiled sufficiently in some water they are 
resolved into a pulpy, homogeneous substance of a 
more or less liquid or flowing character. The 
Greeks observed that after food had been taken 
into a healthy stomach, whether of animal or man, 
it became more or less of a thick fluid in the course 
of a few hours, and pretty much of tbe same color 
and consistency whatever may have been the sub- 
stance eaten ; hence they considered that the pro- 
cess by which nature converted food into a form 
from which nourishment was derived was allied to 
that of boiling ; hence they applied to it a word 
which meant boiling in their language, expressed 
in English letters by the term pipto. 

They further observed that, if persons ate too 
much or a.te substances which were not easily 
changed to the proper condition, more or less 
bodily discomfort was experienced ; they then ap- 
plied another word to express the idea of difficulty 
or painful conversion of food spelled das, making 



96 DYSPEPSIA. 

one word duspipto, and, for beauty of sound, it was 
formed into the familiar appelation dyspepsia. 

The Eomans at a later date, seemingly not will- 
ing to commit themselves to the idea that food in 
the stomach underwent any specified process in 
order to fit it for meeting the wants of the system, 
knowing that if that process was not carried on 
properly, it would not fulfil the purposes of nature, 
and wishing to have a word which would express 
that idea, without committing themselves to its 
manner, used the word 

indigestio ; 

made up of in, meaning without, and digestio, 
meaning preparation ; both together giving the full 
idea of without preparation, or not properly pre- 
pared ; and, by adding the letter n, we have the 
world-wide familiar name U Indigestion/' which 
is now getting to be more commonly employed than 
"dyspepsia." 

Many years ago a Canadian soldier named Alexis 
St. Martin received a gun-shot wound in the side, 
which, on healing, left an opening which allowed 
any one to see what was going on in the stomach at 
anytime. This was considered by Dr. William Beau- 
mont a rare opportunity for making some scientific 



DIGESTION OF FOOD. 97 

observations and experiments in connection with so 
important a subject as that of the digestion of food. 
These observations were patiently and faithfully 
made in the progress of many months, and their 
subsequent publication excited an intense interest 
among scientific men all over the world, as being of 
groat approximative value, and the book has been 
considered a standard work of authoritative refer- 
ence ever since, and has been made the foundation 
of many works on human physiology in general, 
and of digestion and dyspepsia in particular. 

It is proposed to make use of some of the facts 
published by Dr. Beaumont, with a view of con- 
vincing the reader of the demonstrable character 
of the deductions drawn from these facts, as an 
aid to him in carrying the principle of action into 
practical life; for it is very much easier, and a 
great deal more satisfactory, to follow the pre- 
scription of a physician when the judgment is con- 
vinced that they are founded on truth, than merely 
in a blind confidence of the statements of a medi- 
cal adviser. 

Dr. Beaumont saw that when the food was cut 
up in small pieces before it was eaten, it was dis- 
solved, digested, sooner and more easily, as well as 



98 DYSPEPSIA. 

more perfectly, than when it was swallowed in 
large pieces. 

He also observed that, if the pieces were very 
large, it required so long a time for them to be dis- 
solved that, before the completion of the process, 
they began to rot, to decompose, to become sour, 
and the patient complained of a burning or scald- 
ing sensation in the throat at the little hollow at 
the top of the breast bone and bottom of the neck 
in front. Sometimes this sensation extended from 
the stomach in a straight line upwards to the 
throat, this is 

ACIDITY OF STOMACH, 

one of the most common, as well as annoying 
symptoms of dyspepsia. And now that the intelli- 
gent and refined reader knows that the sensations 
named arise from food rotting in the stomach, as 
a result of the indelicacy of bolting, swallowing 
large chunks of food at his meals, it is not at all 
likely that he will do such a thing again as willing- 
ly; to leave carrion in his stomach, his whole nature 
revolts against it. 

Beaumont also observed that if St. Martin ate 
rapidly, as he was very apt to do when he was 
hungry, or ate a great deal too much, the invari- 



colic. 99 

able result was the rotting process of the whole 
mass, causing acidity, the formation of large 
quantities of wind, passing up and down ; or, if it 
did not thus escape, its accumulation in the in- 
testines and stomach caused at times an insupport- 
able sense of oppression, difficulty of breathing, 
or intense pain, which, in infants, is called 

COLIC, 

or by a still more familiar name. It is very clear 
that any reader with even a small amount of delicacy 
and refinement will have such a sense of disgust and 
abhorence of a deliberate and voluntary act, which 
fills his stomach with rotting food, that he will be 
at pains for the remainder of his life to cut it up 
fine, and eat it slowly. These two things are es- 
sential to the cure of any dyspeptic, making it 
literally true that one of the best remedies for dys 
pepsia is 

A SHAKP CASE KNIFE 

because it divides the meat perfectly, its sinews 
and tendons, what a cook calls strings; and for 
the want of the complete division of which, persons 
before now have often been 

CHOKED TO DEATH. 

Perhaps the reader may remember that more 
than once in his life, he was swallowing a mouth- 



100 DYSPEPSIA. 

ful at the table, and it seemed to be held from 
going down by some communication with what was 
in the forward part of the mouth, and was only re- 
lieved from choking by another desperate attempt 
at swallowing, which fortunately carried both parts 
of the mouthful downwards, leaving him in a con- 
siderable perturbation of mind. If he had had a 
sharp knife such an unpleasant occurrence could 
not have taken place. 

It is a national trait with the English, who are 
great lovers of roast beef and mutton, to have 
sharp dinner knives ; it is universal, a custom 
found in practical wisdom. 

A judicious and conscientious parent will be at 
pains to explain this matter to the children, to 
their life -long advantage ; and it may be done in 
so impressive a manner, and so easily, that it will 
be almost a crime not to do it. 

Have two glasses, or " tumblers," each half full 
of water, take two pieces of ice, each as large as 
the egg of a goose, or of equal weight ; cut one of 
those pieces into bits as small as plum stones ; put 
them into one glass, and the one piece in the other; 
stir them with spoons ; all the time with watch in 
hand, and notice how much sooner the small pieces 
are entirely melted, than the one large piece ; and 



MODE OF DIGESTION. 101 

that is the reason why it is better to have sharp 
knives at the table, and to cut up the food in small 
pieces. 

It may be made more impressive because of the 
curious interest connected with the subject, to state 
that Beaumont observed, as the food entered the 
Btomach, it was given a churning or circling motion. 
It went round and round the stomach, touching 
its sides, and, as it did so, a fluid substance seem- 
ed to come out of little reservoirs or vessels scat- 
tered about the inner surface of the stomach, and 
this liquid enveloped each particle of food, as did 
the water in the glass where were the small pieces 
of ice, and, by an eating or melting or otherwise 
dissolving process, the bits of food became smaller 
and smaller until they disappeared altogether, and 
the whole was converted into a fluid, just as the 
whole mass in the tumbler became water, eventu- 
ally. This stomach fluid is called by physicians 

THE GASTKIO JUICE, 

the first word being a Greek term meaning " stom- 
ach. " The whole observation showed that the 
food was not dissolved as is a lump of sugar in a 
cup of tea, by the water sinking into it, and caus- 
ing it to fall apart, but causing a dissolution by 



102 DYSPEPSIA. 

Jayers, from without inwards, just as a piece of 
candy in the mouth becomes smaller and smaller. 
Another observation was, that if the food was cut 
up very fine as in mince meat, it was dissolved 
almost as soon as if it were chewed very slowly and 
for a long time. From this we derive the practical 
fact, that persons who have not 

GOOD TEETH 

should make up for it by having very sharp table 
knives, and taking time and pains to cut up every 
particle of food in pieces as small as a pea. 

Beaumont observed further that when St. Martin 
was very hungry, and he looked into the stomach, 
the vessels along its sides were so full of gastric 
juice that they " stood out " as the veins do on a 
man's forehead sometimes, when greatly excited, 
or after he has been in a stooping position with his 
head downwards for some minutes. But when St. 
Martin was not hungry these vessels were scarcely 
visible. Putting these two things together, wdth a 
third observation, that the more gastric juice there 
was the sooner the food was dissolved, the practi- 
cal conclusion is irresistible, that it is no use for a 
man to 



BAD BREATH. 103 

EAT WHEN HE IS NOT HUNGRY, 

because there is no gastric juice in the stomach to 
dissolve the food, and it can only remain there to 
ferment and rot, a disgusting mass, pouring forth 
noisome odors. This is the reason why some 
people have such 

BAD BREATH. 

A dead dog rotting in the sun sends out the 
sickening gases in every direction ; rotting meat in 
the stomach of a glutton does the same thing, 
hence it is that you can smell some people a mile 
off — more or less. This festering, rotting mass of 
food in the stomach cannot escape, it remains 
there for hours, a whole day sometimes. This is 
what is meant by 



a long time after it has been eaten, indicating that 
it has not been digested ; if it had we would have 
" heard no more of it " since the moment of 
swallowing it. So when food is " tasted " after it 
has been eaten it means that the person has taken 
too much, or the quality was not adapted to the 
then conditions of the stomach— has not 



104 DYSPEPSIA. 

AGREED WITH IT. 

But another result follows having indigested food 
in the stomach : being confined there its gases and 
more liquid particles are absorbed into the system, 
that is make their way into the blood, corrupt it, 
poison it, and render it unfit for natural purposes. 
But the nerves feed on the blood, and blood and 
nerves are at every pin point of the human body ; 
when, therefore, they find that their food is not 
natural, is not good, they complain; that is un- 
natural sensations are produced — these we call 

" SYMPTOMS," 

and if any person will take the trouble to listen to 
the interminable narrations of an unfortunate dys- 
peptic, and make a note of them, he will soon find 
that there is scarcely a spot in the whole human 
body, from 

TOP TO TOE, 

which is not the seat of some symptom or other— 
of some ache or pain, or hurting. 



DIGESTIBILITY OF FOOD. 

Dr. Beaumont spent a great deal of labour in 
ascertaining what time was required for the diges- 
tion of various kinds of food. Cole-slaw, boiled 
rice, boiled pig's feet soused, tripe soused and boiled, 
required one hour for complete dissolution in the 
gastric juice ; when it was then ready to be passed 
out of the stomach and forwarded to other parts of 
the system, to yield nourishment and invigorating 
powers. Whipped eggs, raw ; salmon trout, boiled 
or fried; barley soup; sweet mellow, raw apples, 
and venison steak required an hour and a half; 
wild game, two hours and a quarter ; roasted beef 
and mutton three hours, and roast pork, beef suet 
and tendon over five hours. Fresh meats broiled 
were more easily digested than roasted ; and fresh 
meats were more easily digested than vegetables ; 
hence the general rule for dyspeptics should be to 
select such articles of food as are soonest and most 
easily digested, provided no discomfort follows, and 
the system is strengthened. 

Whatever kind of food seems to strengthen a 
dyspeptic, and can be eaten without any ill-feelings 
afterwards, that is the kind for such a person, 
7 ( 105 ) 



106 DYSPEPSIA. 

regardless of the time it requires for digestion, 
according to the tables. 

The experiments on St. Martin showed the time 
required for digesting food by an ordinary healthy 
person, but these are modified in case of the sick 
and feeble, and as some persons relish one kind of 
food and some another, and, as what is eaten with 
a relish, is more likely to be digested easily, and so 
impart nourishment and strength, it follows that 
no one should be a rule for another, each must be a 

RULE TO HIMSELF, 

Hence, in laying down the diet for a dozen dyspep- 
tics, no two, perhaps, would be exactly alike as to 
quality and quantity. 

The first point in every case is to take that food 
which "agrees'' best ; that is, which is followed by 
the least possible discomfort, remembering always, 
that an article may agree very well if taken in 
small quantities at a time, but in larger, would 
cause very great discomfort. The easy method in 
all such cases is to eat less and less at each meal 
until no disagreeable sensation is observed to fol- 
low, and keep at that amount for a short time, 
until the system becomes stronger, and then the 
amount may be increased. 



AVOID NOTICING SYMPTOMS. 107 

Some item of food may not agree with the 
dyspeptic to-day, or this week, or month, but may 
do so very well at a future time. 

It will be a great comfort to the dyspeptic, and 
of considerable importance in promoting and hast- 
ening a cure in ordinary cases, to 

Avoid noticing symptoms 

as much as possible. It is a most miserable em- 
ployment to be looking about for aches and pains, 
and it is quite as unprofitable to be all the time 
thinking about what shall be eaten at the next 
meal. It will be a great point gained in every 
case to have some business, some occupation, some 
object to accomplish immediately after each meal, 
of a sufficiently engrossing and agreeable nature as 
to carry the mind away from the body and its con- 
ditions. To this end, in the case of women and 
others who, from any cause, are mostly indoors, it 
would answer a good purpose to have a leisure walk, 
or friendly visit, or domestic out-door errand, after 
each meal, having a companion to talk to as often as 
practicable, for solitary walks, even in the bustle of 
a city, are doleful occupations, and do but little to 
wake up the life currents ; but if there is an object in 
view, a friend to be visited, a letter to be depositod 



108 DYSPEPSIA. 

or a purchase to be made, or an engagement to be 
fulfilled, then it is a different thing ; but, in any- 
even t, endeavour to have the mind pleasantly oc- 
cupied all the time if practicable, and as much of the 
time as possible should be out of doors in the open 
air, at least two or three hours every day, a part of 
the time in the forenoon, and a part in the afternoon 
be fore sun own. An hour twice a day is better 
than two hours at a time, thus avoiding over fatigue 
in case of the feeble. 

The rule should be in all cases to turn homeward 
before one is much tired, for every step taken after 
weariness comes on, does more harm than good 
and paves the way for an easy taking cold after 
reaching home ; not forgetting that actual fatigue 
impairs the digestion, for, the whole body being 
weak, the stomach bears its proportion of the 
debility. 

It is desirable that the dyspeptic should take 
some moderate exercise out of doors after each 
meal, as well after supper, or the last meal of the 
day, as after breakfast or dinner. There is nothing 
hurtful in the night air after a regular meal, if the 
person takes the precaution to exercise with suffi- 
cient vigor to keep off a feeling of chilliness. This 
should be the rule in all forms of exercise out 



OUT-DOOR EXERCISE AFTER MEALS. 109 

of doors ; to keep off chilliness, for its tendency 
is to arrest the process of digestion on the instant, 
beside the danger of taking cold. 

The reader will bear in mind that this line of 
remark has been fallen into in connection with 
having something in hand after each meal, as a 
means of diverting the mind from the condition of 
the body, and of breaking up the miserable habit 
of dwelling on one's bodily discomforts, which 
always aggravates dyspepsia and impedes its cure. 

Dr. Beaumont observed that while some articles 
of food were digested in an hour and others in three 
or four or more, that an ordinary meal, made up 
of several articles, was digested within five hours 
and passed out of the stomach : but, during that 
entire time, the stomach was in motion, sending 
the food round and round, by the action of its vari- 
ous muscles, pushing and pushing incessantly ; 
then, and not until then, it rested. The busy 
heart is in perfect repose for one-third of its time, 
this is its sleep ; in the same sense, the stomach 
sleeps after each meal, and now comes in 

THE BOTTOM FACT, 

the fundamental principle, the foundation stone, 
the key of the corner, in connection with the treat- 



110 DYSPEPSIA. 

ment and cure of all cases of dyspepsia. Beau- 
mont observed that, if after a regular meal, half an 
hour or more before that meal was digested, some- 
thing else was eaten, the process of digestion of 
what was already in the stomach was arrested until 
what was last eaten was brought to the condition 
of the food which had been taken at the regular 
meal ; thus keeping the entire mass of food in the 
stomach that much longer, and keeping that 
organ at work that much longer, overtaxing its 
strength, exhausting its powers ; doing this for one 
time causes acute dyspepsia; keeping it up is 
chronic dyspepsia — the dyspepsia which is the bane 
of the American people ; in other words, dyspepsia 
is usually brought on by 

EATING TOO OFTEN. 

And when once firmly fixed in the system, in tho 
course of weeks or months, it is then kept up by 

EATING TOO MUCH. 

Dyspeptics are always hungry, are only happy 
when they are eating, and, as soon as they are 
done, their torments begin, to continue one, two, 
or more hours, during which time they are unmis- 
takably miserable* This incessant, this 



HUNGER. Ill 



GNAWING HUNGER, 



of the dyspeptic, may be said to be a mistaken 
notion of the instinct ; and may thus be presented, 
with the view of enabling the reader to understand 
an important principle. When a man is hungry 
there is an uncomfortable sensation about the 
stomach ; he eats a good dinner and the discom- 
fort is removed ; and thus it continues for years, 
the instinct calling for food to be introduced into 
the stomach whenever there is hunger. But 

HUNGER 

is the system's method of indicating that it wants 
replenishment and repair, a new supply of strength 
through a new supply of nutriment ; and, as 
these supplies have been furnished hitherto by 
filling the stomach with food, instinct concludes 
that food is wanting to appease hunger, to 
supply nutriment, and to give strength, hence 
calls for food in such imperative tones, sometimes 
as to be almost irresistible, even by persons of the 
strongest minds. Hence the dyspeptic feels every 
day that he cannot possibly wait for his dinner — 
that he must, at least, 



112 DYSPEPSIA. 



HAVE A BITE, 



to stay his stomach ; hut this is a vicious appetite, 
it tends to aggravate the disease, and must be re- 
sisted at any sacrifice of mere comfort, and the 
result will be, usually in a few days, that this 

FORM OF TORMENT 

will pass off, and will constitute one of the first 
steps towards mastering the disease. 

Speaking unscientifically, for the purpose of 
being understood by unprofessional minds, the 
instinct for satisfying hunger having been appeased 
by filling the stomach with food, the system im- 
bibed the impression that hunger would be ap- 
peased, and the body supplied with the nutriment 
and strength required by filling the stomach with 
juice again ; but in its want of strength, it 
continued to call for food, while, in reality, it 
was not more food that was required but the pro- 
per digestion of what had already been taken ; and, 
as what had already been taken, was not digested, 
taking more only added to the trouble ; for if the 
stomach could not digest what was already in it, it 
would be still more unable to digest an increased 
quantity. Hence, although the confirmed dyspep- 



HUNGER. 113 

tic is, through blind instinct, calling for more 
food, he should bring his reasons to bear in the 
light of the statements just made, and summon all 
his moral courage to eat less and less, instead of 
more and more, steadily diminishing the quantity, 
with the assurance that the stomach will digest a 
small amount when it would fail to do its work 
with a larger quantity, and would derive more 
nourishment and strength from this smaller amount 
well digested, than from a hearty meal not digested 
at all — that is, all digested to a certain extent, but 
none of it so well digested as to impart any 
strength to the system. And, as hunger is the 
sensation put forward by nature to indicate that 
she needs a new supply of strength, and the food 
of the dyspeptic not being healthfully digested does 
not give that strength, the hunger continues, and 
the. torment is incessant, the patient is always 
hungry, never satisfied. 

Awhile ago it was stated that if a person often ate 
after a regular meal, that is, fell into the habit of 

EATING BETWEEN MEALS, 

the process of digestion was lengthened as therein 
described, and, instead of the stomach having to 
work five hours and then getting some rest, it had 



114 DYSPEPSIA. 

to work one, two, or more hours longer than natu- 
ral, and, this thing going on meal after meal, the 
result is that it is kept working 

FKOM MORNING TILL NIGHT, 

and is thus " worn out," " overtaxed," " worked to 
death," " loses its tone," as popularly expressed ; 
and, having been " overworked," the remedy is to 
remove the cause and give it rest by eating less, 
and thus afford it an opportunity to regain its 
strength ; precisely as when a man has been ex- 
hausted by violent or protracted exertion of any 
kind, he regains his strength by moderate labour 
or absolute repose. The method to be adopted is, 
to eat less and less at each meal, until no discom- 
fort whatever is experienced ; continue at that for 
several days, although it may not seem to be 
enough, and the stomach will get stronger, when 
the amount eaten may be gradually increased. 
"While thus eating less, it is of quite as much im- 
portance to eat less often, and resolutely avoid 

EATING BETWEEN MEALS. 

It is the opinion of most medical men of extensive 
observation and experience that a large proportion 
of all dyspepsias among women is brought on dur- 



EATING BETWEEN MEALS. 115 

ing the teens of girlhood, when, living at home 
and being always ready to eat, as young persons in 
health are, they are very apt to nibble at anything 
they see in passing about the house, as an apple, 
orange, bunch of grapes, bit of cake, and the like ; 
this breaks into the habit of eating regularly, 
keeps the stomach always at work, gives it no rest, 
it wears oui;, and confirmed dyspepsia follows on 
apace. 

It is quite probable that more cases of dyspepsia 
are caused by eating too often than in any other 
way, and, in order to regulate that, we must be 
guided by nature. If it requires four or five hours 
to digest a regular meal and pass it out of the 
stomach, there should be at least five hours inter- 
val between meals : that is, between breakfast and 
dinner, and dinner and supper ; this will keep the 
stomach at work twelve or fifteen hours out of the 
twenty-four, and the remainder of the day will be 
for rest. This seems to be the natural order of 
things for steady workers, the day labourer, the 
farmer, and the mechanic. In accordance with 
these views it is found that a man cannot work to 
advantage longer than six hours. without eating. 

In this connection it would seem to be a legiti- 
mate inference, that, as comparatively little work 



11G DYSPEPSIA. 

is done after supper, and less strength is required 
for this, much less food is necessary at the last 
meal of the day. If a hearty supper is taken, it 
keeps the stomach at work to a late hour in the 
night. The other part of the body is resting and 
sleeping while it is toiling on to dispose of the sup- 
per, hence it does not get its share of rest, and is, 
as a consequence, worn out before the rest of the 
body ; but, on the proper performance of its duty, 
the natural amount of strength for the body depends, 
and, as the diseased stomach cannot adequately 
supply that strength, the body gradually weakens, 
and all its functions also become impaired ; hence 
dyspeptics have very little endurance, very little 
vitality, very little power of resisting disease, and, 
as a consequence, fall an easy prey to any preva- 
lent malady. 

It is a law of nature that every organic substance, 
everything which has once had life, but has it no 
longer, will soon begin to decay after a short 
exposure to warmth and dampness, such is the 
case with all meats, vegetable, and fruits, which we 
all know soon begin to decay in warm weather. 

The interior of the stomach is always at about a 
hundred degrees, considerably warmer than sum- 
mer weather, hence, if food is kept in but a little 



DIGESTION. 117 

longer than the natural time without being properly 
acted upon, it will inevitably begin to decompose. 
Therefore, if a person eats too much or too often, 
the process of digestion is extended beyond the 
natural time, and the inevitable result is decom- 
position, which, as previously explained, poisons 
the blood and renders it unfit for imparting nour- 
ishment and strength to the system. 

It is thus seen that the three universal causes of 
dyspepsia are the habits of— 

Eating too much ; 

Eating too often ; 

Eating without an appetite. 

This last was explained in a previous page. In 
the first two the stomach was kept too long at 
work and could not perform its functions properly ; 
hence the food decomposed, with its unhealthful 
result. In the last case, there being no gastric 
juice to perform the offices of digestion, the food 
remained unchanged, until decomposition began to 
take place according to invariable natural laws, 
the result being the same as in the two first, innu- 
trition, blood-poisoning, nerve-starving, and nerve- 
complaining, giving rise to " symptoms " as vari- 
able and as numerous as the parts of the body. 



118 DYSPEPSIA. 

All dyspeptics grow worse constantly, because, 
when the stomach begins to fail in its functions, 
the nerves begin also to fail, in consequence of the 
stomach failing to supply them with healthful food, 
and they, in turn, begin to fail in giving power to 
the stomach to discharge its appropriate functions ; 
hence one acts on the other, and continually aggra- 
vating the malady, making it more and more incur- 
able, and rendering the unfortunate patient more 
and more miserable, not killing him outright, but 
causing him, in many cases, to kill himself, as the 
shortest way of terminating tortures which were 
otherwise interminable. 

Beaumont observed that whatever St. Martin ate 
at a regular meal, whether vegetables, or meat, or 
both, whether of two articles or a dozen different 
ones, the color and consistence of the digested mass 
were about the same, leading to the practical infer- 
ence that a great variety of articles of food at any 
one meal, was not harmful, was not incompatible 
with the healthful functions of the stomach. In 
other words, the quality of the food was not a fac- 
tor in causing dyspepsia ; it was quantity; we may eat 
almost anything without discomfort and with natural 
results, if it is not too much for it. We may eat half 
a pound of bread at a meal with comfort, but not 



VARIETY AT THE TABLE. 119 

half a pound of sugar ; we may take a pint of soup, 
but not a pint of syrup. 

On general principles variety at the table is in- 
dispensable to good health, because the human 
body is made up of many different elements, hydro- 
gen, nitrogen, phosphorus, acids, alkalies, carbon, 
and others ; without these we cannot live. 

Without carbon we would freeze to death, and 
sugars, and fats, and oils, are, as it were, consoli- 
dated carbon; hence we consume them in large 
quantities in cold weather, in the shape of roast 
pork and fat meats, and the inevitable buckwheat 
cakes and molasses, with a large amount of butter 
added ; it is the carbon of these which generates 
the extra heat within, to antagonise the extra cold 
without. Nature craves these in the winter-time ; 
it is this which makes it a bliss for the Esquimaux, 
who live amid eternal ice and snow, to have the 
opportunity of eating a dozen or two tallow candles 
at a meal, or of drinking two or three gallons of 
train oil, or any other kind of oil, at a sitting. 

But fruits and berries, the apple and the orange, 
the cherry and the lemon, have not an atom of car- 
bon. We do not need it when these are in their 
season. So wise and kind is the Omnipotent One 



120 DYSPEPSIA. 

in providing these in the summer-time, with their 
delicious acids, which cool off the system. 

The various kinds of fish and living things in all 
the oceans and rivers and creeks and running 
brooks on the globe abound in phosphorus, which 
is the essential and principal food of the brain, the 
glory of man, and more largely than any other 
aliment do the inhabitants of the great deep sup- 
ply this essential principle ; and the love of fish 
seems to be common to all peoples. 

These statements show that variety of food is 
necessary to the highest well-being of man, that 
those who live amid the sources of the icebergs 
require the carbon of the oil to keep them warm, 
and there are found the walrus, and the whale, and 
the polar bear, all revelling in their fatness, while 
in southern climes, where the people dwell in tropi- 
cal heats, a beneficent Providence has sent the 
orange and the lemon and the banana and other 
fruits in their wonderful profusion, 

TO COMFORT AND TO COOL. 

But in the regions of the earth, in the temperate 
zones, where it is warm during half the year and 
cold for the remainder, both cooling and warming 
foods are supplied in almost every form, and in the 



VAItlETY OF FOOD. 121 

greatest abundance. We have meats and oils, and 
fruits and acids, in almost endless variety, so wise 
and kind is He whose loving kindness is over all 
His works, to provide for us, the creatures of His 
power, the children of His love — His offspring. 

But this very variety of food is a prominent 
cause of dyspepsia, and will continue to be, until 
we bring our reason to bear on the subject and have 
the self-denial to learn to use them 

WISELY AND WELL. 

This item of experience has occurred to the 
reader, in the course of a life not very long, a 
dozen or a hundred, if not a thousand times. He 
has made a hearty meal, has pushed back his plate 
and has a feeling of satisfaction, delightful to con- 
template. He is at peace with the whole world ; 
unlike 

OLIVER TWIST 

he does not want " more," and indeed, there is no 

room for it. But, at this juncture, an unexpected 

dish is presented ; mayhap it is a favourite one : 

one which he may not have seen for weeks and 

months before ; it may be the first of the season. 

In an instant a marvelous change comes over 
8 



122 DYSPEPSIA. 

THE SPIRIT OF HIS DREAM, 

and with that he "turns to," and eats almost as 
much in amount as he had already done. He has 
doubled his dinner, and imposed an equal propor- 
tion of extra labour on an already labouring stom- 
ach, to its inevitable injury. It is for this reason 

DESSERTS ARE HURTFUL, 

not that they are of themselves unhealthy or diffi- 
cult of digestion, if properly made, but because 
they tempt the appetite and induce persons to eat 
after nature has been satisfied, and to that extent 
overtax and impair the abilities of the stomach, 
with the results already alluded to. 

Desserts are as healthful and nutritious as other 
ordinary articles of food, but, taken after nature 
has had her fill, they cause fulness, oppression, 
nausea, or other forms of dyspeptic symptoms, 
which are attributed to the last thing eaten, instead 
of the real cause, an overfilling of the stomach, 
which the regular meal had as much a part in doing 
as the dessert. 

It is a very wise custom on the part of some 
French and other European families, and at some 



DELICACIES. 123 

hotels in Germany, to have little delicacies on the 
dinner table when the parties first sit down ; and 
while waiting for all to collect, and for the first 
dish to be served up 

" PIPING Hot/' 

an apple, or an orange, or a bunch of grapes, or 
bit of sweetmeat, is taken and " nibbled " at during 
the intervals of conversation ; the result being that 
any over-hunger is stayed, and the appetite is 
modified, so that fast and excessive eating is pre- 
vented. Hence, if the dessert is taken at the begin- 
ning of a good dinner, or is eaten instead of dinner, 
the day before or the day after, no harm can result, 
and, in as far as it increases the variety of the food 
eaten in the course of any meal, it is positively 
beneficial. 

The necessary requisites of a variety of food may 
be very well met, with great physiological advan- 
tages, by having each meal different from the next 
and the preceding, but let each consist of not over 
three articles of food. This is good for all ; for, 
dyspeptics it is essential ; for the inevitable result 
will be, in all cases, that there is not likely to be 
any over-eating at that meal. Any reader qan try 
it for himself, and, let him be ever so hungry, and 



124 DYSPEPSIA. 

the dinner consist of roast turkey, stale bread, 
and potatoes — or roast turkey, macaroni, and cran- 
berry sauce — it is not at all likely that he will eat 
too much, and yet will feel satisfied ; and as a 
very common symptom of dyspepsia, is a craving 
appetite, an excessive hunger, the temptation to 
eat too much of a 

SPLENDID DINNEB 

might be, and is often, irresistible ; but he escapes 
this temptation, and the trying conflict of resist- 
ance, by sitting down at the less various dishes, 
and he avoids the constant conflicts of hard self- 
denials. 

The rule then for all who aim to rid themselves 
of the various forms of dyspepsia by the simple 
means of regulating the diet, without the purgato- 
rial infliction of feeling always hungry, and of get- 
ting up from a fine dinner before one is done, is im- 
perative that each meal should be made of not 
over three articles of diet, giving the preference to 

Lean fresh meats ; 

Stale brown bread, and 

Fruits, ripe, raw, fresh, eating them half an 
hour before. 



DRINKING AT MEALS. 125 

In almost all cases, it is better to drink nothing 
whatever ; if a person is weak and chilly, a cup of 
hot drink, which is at the same time palatable, is 
a positive benefit ; it revives, it makes up the cir- 
culation and overcomes or prevents chilliness, 
which conflicts with healthful digestion ; for Beau- 
mont observed that, if St. Martin drank cold water 
during a meal, it instantly arrested the process of 
digestion, just as instantly as the process of 
boiling is arrested if iced water is thrown into the 
vessel, and digestion was not resumed until the 
cold liquid introduced had become as warm as were 
the co_«ents of the stomach before it was drank. 
The temperature of a healthy stomach is about one 
hundred degrees, that of ice water about thirty- 
three, and to impart to this ice water just double 
its heat is a very serious draft on the vital heat of 
the system, enough sometimes to cause instant 
death, as when a person in a very heated condition, 
drinks largely of any cold liquid, even milk or water. 
The writer's grandfather died after a short illness, 
in Devonshire, England, from drinking a glass of 
cold milk after a walk, on a hot summer's day. A 
gallant French general, in his efforts to hurry up 
some artillery to the top of a mountain covered 
arith snow, dropped dead from drinking a glass of 



126 DYSPEPSIA, 

snow-water — not from any quality in the snow, but 
from the temperature of the liquid ; it abstracted 
heat from the vital parts with too great rapidity. 

Some persons are able to drink several glasses 
of ice water during a single dinner on a summer's 
day ; it's because they have large reserves of vital 
forces. The reader has no doubt observed severaj 
times in the course of his life, a little chill running 
over him during dinner ; it was either because he 
was eating something too cold, or had taken too 
much cold liquid of some kind ; a greater degree of 
this chilliness would have been death. 

There are a number of cases in standard medi- 
cal works of persons dying at the dinner table, or 
soon after, of congestive chill, as the result of either 

Eating in a chilly condition, 

Drinking too freely of cold fluids, 

Taking cold food, or ice cream, or 

Eating so much, while in a weakly condition 
that the general system in the effort to supply the 
imperative demands of the stomach for warmth, 
wrecked all the wheels of life, shattered the whole 
mechanism. 

These are facts, not conjectures nor theories, and 
should impress all with the danger of running any 
of the risks named by either of the four habits 



CONGESTIVE CHILL. 127 

just enumerated ; and it is vitally necessary on the 
part of dyspeptics to heed them. These things 
being true, no person should eat while feeling chilly 
and if not comfortably warm at the beginning of a 
meal, or during its progress, some drink should be 
taken, not merely warm but hot, the comfortable- 
ness of it will be almost instantaneous. The dys- 
peptic should ordinarily not drink anything from 
half an hour before to half an hour after a regular 
meal, cold or hot, because — 

First, the bulk of the draught tends to distend the 
stomach, which pressing up against the lungs, 
crowds them, diminishes their space for work, for 
taking in air enough for the wants of the system, 
hence the dyspeptic often complains of oppression, 
of shortness of breath in going up stairs soon after 
a meal. Second, if the fluid taken is cold, it causes 
chilliness and all its ill-consequences as above 
named. Third, by diluting the gastric juice, it 
lessens its power of dissolving the food whether the 
drink be warm or cold ; it is hoped the reader will 
feel the force of this statement without exemplify- 
ing it. Fourth, persons will eat less if nothing is 
drank at meals. 

The dyspeptic should steadily guard against 
studying, or 



128 DYSPErSIA. 

WORKING SOON AFTER EATING; 

because it is of the first consequence that the pro- 
cess of digestion should begin and continue with all 
its force until the whole work is done, this process 
is carried on by what is called the nervous energy 
of the system ; it must not only be carried on but 
it must be done without interruption ; for if sud- 
denly arrested for but a short time, convulsions or 
death sometimes ensues. In ordinary good health, 
the different parts of the human body, its various 
works and manufactories — 

Brain, 

Heart, 

Lungs, 

Stomach, 

Liver, &c, are supplied with their needed amount 
of nervous power, as a well-defended and guarded 
fortress has soldiers stationed at various points, 
but if anything happens by which a larger force is 
required at any one point than the others, each oi 
the others detaches a portion of its strength to the 
needed point ; so when a man wants to make an 
extra effort in lifting, he draws in an extra supply 
of breath, to do which extra nerve power is required 
in the lungs ; so also, when the stomach is filled 



UNDUE EXERCISE AFTER EATING. 129 

with food, an extra supply of nervous energy must be 
sent there to perform the work, this extra amount 
is made up by details from all the other workshops 
named ; but if nature's instincts are overruled and 
a man by force of will attempts to climb a pole or 
run a race or perform other extra activities, the 
strength is compelled away from the stomach and 
digestion ceases. 

An eminent French experimenter fed six dog s 
heartily ; three of them he locked up in a dark 
apartment where they went to sleep ; the other 
three were sent on the chase; on their return 
their stomachs were examined and the food 
was found unchanged; while the sleeping, rest- 
ing dogs had digested their ^dinner fully. The 
principle is acted out in practical life in various 
ways. No horseman will go on a gallop the mo- 
ment his trusty animal has been fed, because he 
knows his life will be endangered, and further, even 
if that was not the case, he would travel farther by 
the end of the day and with less fatigue, if, for the 
first two or three miles, the gait should be that ox 
a leisure walk. 

The instinct which is given to all the animal 
creation, as an 



ICO DYSPEPSIA. 

AUTOMATIC LIFE PRESERVES, 

supplied by infinite intelligence, leads the horse, th 
hog, the dog, and even the feeble-minded chicken, 
to roost or rest or lie down soon after eating a ful^ 
meal ; not even calling away from the stomach the 
nervous power necessary to stand up or do any- 
thing more than breathe, This brings us face to 
face with a practical fact of immeasurable impor- 
tance to 

ALL THINKERS. 

Students of all professions and of all classes and of 
all departments of human knowledge are most liable, 
next to women, to have their lives made miserable 
by dyspepsia, brought about by that 

IMPATIENCE OF DELIGHT 

in study, to go to their books immediately after 
meals, compelling the nervous energy away from 
the stomach, and this being repeated every day, 
and sometimes three times a day for weeks together 
a disease is engendered, which is not only to embit- 
ter life, but to seriously interfere with 

PROFESSIONAL DUTY. 

In connection with the fact that the blood feeds the 
nerves and thus supplies them with their power of 



PROFESSIONAL DUTY. 131 

work, and tlje brain being the fountain head of all 
nervous powers, it has been recently demonstrated, 
that if a man is sitting still and in a quiet frame 
of mind, his pulse beats at a certain slow rate ; 
but, on the very instant of the introduction of a 
striking thought, the pulse is increased in rapidity 
and the fullness of its flow, showing clearly, that 
one additional thought in the brain requires an 
additional flow of blood, both in quantity and rapid- 
ity and hence an additional supply of nervous force, 
and that supply of increased nervous force must be 
large, when there is continuous and exciting 
thought, as there is in the case of hard study ; this 
increase of blood flow in case a single exciting 
thought is presented to the brain is as accurately 
and perceptibly measured as in a pulsometer or j 
the glass tubes of Fahrenheit. Any student who, in 
the face of these statements, will persist in going 
direct from the dining-room to his study, outrages 
nature, will inevitably sacrifice his health and his 
usefulness and must blame himself for all the 

DYSPEPTIC TORMENTS, 

which he will certainly be called to endure, sooner 
or later, and not very late either. The dyspaptic 



132 DYSPEPSIA. 

will see in this and the preceding statements that 
if he wishes to expedite his release from 

DUEADFUL CHAINS 

he must make up his mind to 
Avoid study, 
Avoid labor, 

And avoid all bodily and mental excitement after 
eating regular meals, and that he should court 
quietude, repose, rest, not even reading an exciting 
novel, for half an hour or longer ; and yet there 
are many persons who, following an indoor life, 
make it a habit to read up to the moment of sit- 
ting down to regular meals, and resume the read- 
ing immediately after ; whereas, both before and 
after meals, it would be better to allow half an 
hour for mental and bodily rest ; before meals so 
as to permit the nervous energy to be di- 
rected towards the stomach by thoughts of eating, 
so as to have a good supply t3 begin with. The 
student knows that oftentimes the call to dinner is 
positively disagreeable, the following out of a 
thought, the recording of new ideas or trains of 
reasoning, is more delicious than the nectar upon 
which 



PROFESSIONAL DUTY. 133 

FAIRIES AND ANGELS 

are said to feed ; and if called to dinner under such 
circumstances, he sits down to the table with 
mechanical indifference, eats like an automaton, is 
glad when everything is cleared from his plate, and 
hies off to his beloved study and manuscript, with 
a sweeter interest than any lover ever kept an 

APPOINTMENT FOR HIS DARLING, 

knowing no more what he had eaten than Esau 
knew of the taste of Jacob's soup-bowl. Whether 
it is true or not, it was a perfectly natural narra- 
tion that when Newton, or some other great mind, 
was sitting beside his lady love with one hand in 
hers, he took her finger and put the end of it in the 
bowl of his pipe to adjust the contents, to the 
intense disgust of the lady, who thereby divined 
that she, at least, 

WAS NOT IN ALL HIS THOUGHTS. 

The act was instinctive, mechanical, his thoughts 
among the stars. The way, then, for a dyspeptic 
to eat a dinner is to think about it beforehand, to 
think about what he's doing during its progress 
and give the mind perfect rest after it is over for 
half an hour or more. 



134? DYSPEPSIA. 

The habit of the animal creation is not merely to 
rest but to sleep after a full meal, and there can be 
no question that for the old, the infirm, the feebles 
and the very dyspeptic, a few minutes sleep on a 
lounge, not exceeding ten or fifteen, and to be very 
gradually waked up, is very advantageous. If one 
lies down on the bed the nap is most likely to be 
extended to an hour, or more causing, a certain 
degree of unrest or want of comfortableness for the 
remainder of the day, besides the probability of its 
interfering with sound sleep during the night. 

SURFEIT 

in a man is founder in a horse. Most persons 
are occasionally entrapped into a too hearty meal 
and especially the dyspeptic, who has to withstand 
the remorseless demands of a depraved appetite. 
The result is such an uncomfortableness all over, 
that the person feels he must take something; 
that something is generally some form of spirits ; 
putting more into the stomach, where the trouble 
is, that there is already too much there. A very 
prompt and efficacious remedy is to drink tejpid 
water, a pint or two or more, and then introduce a 
finger or a feather into the throat; by this means 
the stomach will be speedily emptied, the patient 



SURFEIT. 135 

fall asleep, and the error is rectified ; but these are 
violent means, and many times may not be con- 
venient or easily practicable. If in the day time 
a leisure continuous walk in the open air in the 
sunshine, if cool, for the point is to keep off a feel- 
ing of chilliness ; the exercise should be sufficiently 
active to cause a slight moisture on the forehead, 
and should be continued until the discomfort has 
measurably passed away. On returning home, it 
is important to cool off very slowly, in a warm room 
or before an open fire, not taking any of the outer 
clothing off for five minutes, and then remove one 
article at a time ; otherwise, a cold may be taken, 

which may throw back the patient to a point which 

» 

it may require several days to recover from. Very 
often a person becomes aware that he has eaten 
too much after dark, or on going to bed, or after his 
first nap, by a feeling of fulness or general unrest f 
under such circumstances, it is a good plan to put 
on stockings and slippers and with only a night 
gown, walk the floor, rubbing the hands over the 
body in every direction ; this stimulates the skin 
to action, invites the blood and humors to the sur- 
face, cools the skin, subdues the febrile condition 
of the system, gradually brings the relief desired, 
and the wearied body finds the bed a welcome, and 



136 DYSPEPSIA. 

falls asleep. At other times, more decided means 
are necessary ; there may be nausea almost caus- 
ing vomiting, there may be a burning sensation 
about the stomach or throat or in the both ; or 
there may be immense quantities of wind; this, 
in addition to what has been advised in a previous 
page may be carried out — that is patiently rub the 
warm hands over the abdomen, alternating it with 
frictions downwards, with the ball of one hand, press- 
ed upon by the other, from the right thigh bone 
towards and beyond the navel; this operation 
tends to press the contents of the overfull stomach 
out of it at its lower orifice, stirs it up to work, 
and sets the bowels in motion, carrying out immense 
quantities of wind; these walkings and frictions 
and kneedings should be kept up until relief is 
given; if before that, the patients gets tired, he 
can lie down awhile, and when a little rested, 
resume the operations. This kneeding is quite as 
\ pplicable to 

SICKNESS AT STOMACH, 

as it stimulates the liver to unload itself of accu- 
mulated bile, passes it out into the upper intes- 
tines, at a part just about where the stomach 
empties into it, thus also relieving the gall bladder 



SICKNESS AT STOMACH. 137 

of its contents, the natural action of which on the 
alimentary canal, is that of a cathartic, to carry 
all before it, downwards and out of the system. It 
is to be hoped that the reader, by this time, has 
become adequately impressed with the idea, that 
it is easier to avoid a surfeit, than to get rid of it, 
for he has only to eat very slowly, drink nothing, 
and partake of what is before him in great modera- 
tion, as small eaters will live long, and, in the 
course of a lifetime, eat a great deal more, and 
derive a great deal more pleasure from eating, 
than those who, acting otherwise, die soon and 
then do not eat at all. 

Somo observant and intelligent writers have 
recorded of themselves, that their first recollection 
of dyspepsia was as early as the years before they 
were seven, and there can be no more doubt of the 
fact that the 

TONE OP THE STOMACH 

is ruined for life by giving infants opiates and 
soothing syrup to keep them quiet, than that drink- 
ing rum, and gin, and porter, and toddy, and other 

spirits to 

"make milk," 

is the foundation of the love of drink in after life, 

an unaccountable hankering after ardent spirits. 
9 



133 DYSPEPSIA. 

A healthy infant seldom cries except for pain, a3 
the result of physical violence or over-eating ; 
ignorant mothers and unprincipled nurses drown 
their cries with soothing syrups. More infants 
perish from over-feeding every year, than from all 
the other causes combined, unless it may be bad 
air and want of bodily cleanliness. 

The result of the injudicious feeding of infants 
and young children has made the period of child- 
nursing and raising, a source of suffering and death 
to the infants themselves, and of care, and trouble, 
and worry, and anxiety, and broken rest, to mothers, 
w r hich cannot be expressed comprehendingly by any 
array of numerals, and, as the foundations of dys- 
pepsia, in innumerable cases, are laid in the early 
years of childhood, and on to mature life, it is di- 
rectly in the line of this book, which promises on the 
title page to treat of the causes of dyspepsia, or 
point out clearly and plainly and in the most sys- 
tematic manner possible, how children should be 
fed, beginning with the first hour of life, premising 
that in "Health at Home, ,, or "Hall's Family 
Doctor," the whole subject is fully discussed in the 
course of many pages, for the express benefit of 



OVER-FEEDING OF INFANTS. 139 

YOUNG MOTHERS, 

-who so imperatively need just such information. 
The child should be first fed within six hours after 
birth, not delaying beyond ten hours, by any means. 
For the first feeding, give a teaspoonful or two of 
weetened barley water, or very thin gruel, or milk, 
and water. The stomach of a new-born child will 
not hold more than two tablespoonfuls of anything, 
and it takes a good while to get a single teaspoon- 
ful down, a few drops at a time. 

For the first week, the infant should be fed every 
two hours during the day time, and every three 
hours during the night. Make it wait. 

After one week feed it every three hours during 
the day — once at bed-time, once in the middle of 
the night, and then at day-light. Make it wait. 
Continue this for six or eight weeks ; then at inter- 
vals of four hours during the day, from sunrise to 
ten o'clock at night, and not during the night at 
all. 

At the end of three months, the child should be 
habituated to take nothing from bed-time until the 
regular breakfast next day, say an hour after sun- 
rise; make it wait. It may be allowed to nurse 



140 DYSPEPSIA. 

three or four times a day until two years of age, 
when any child can be habituated to eat thrice a 
day, and nothing whatever between meals. If this 
clear, sharp rule is laid down and reasonable 
adhered to, until marriage, an amount of sickness 
during infancy and childhood would be prevented, 
Dot easy to compute, with the advantage that the 
little ones seldom cry, would seldom cause their 
mothers the loss of a single night's sleep, and, in 
addition, would be so much more healthy, would 
possess so much more vigor of constitution that 
ordinary diseases would be repelled, and those 
which it is necessary for them to have, as measles, 
mumps, and the like, would be so light in their 
character, that no medical aid would be needed, 
and they would be " carried through " by securing 
proper warmth, pure air, clean persons, and con- 
finement to the house for a week or two after the 
ailment has spent its force on the system. Many 
children have died or have had fastened on them 
the seeds of consumption, in consequence of little 
colds taken by their parents being in too great a 
hurry to send them out of doors. And life long 
dyspeptics are often engendered by hurtful medi- 
cines being given to cure their little cold, which 
fastens on the lungs, giving cough, or on the bowel3 



REGULATING THE DIET. 141 

giving troublesome diarrhoea. Soothing syrups 
being used in both cases with great freedom, with 
the very frequent result of driving the disease to 
the head and causing convulsions or water on the 
brain ; stopping the cough, arresting the diar- 
rhoea; the foolish parent not seeing that it was only 
a transfer of the malady to a more vital part, lauds 
the medicine and bewail s the accident of the other 
disease coming on at that inopportune time. Tak- 
ing this view of the case, the next child is treated 
in the same way with similar results, the light not 
breaking in upon the mind until several children 
have died, that there was an intimate connection 
between the soothing syrup and the destruction of 
the darling little one. 

For looseness of bowels various preparations of 
lead are given, often resulting in organic lesions of 
the coats of the stomach, giving rise to incurable 
forms of dyspepsia. The intelligent reader should 
therefore bear in mind that the disappearance ©f a 
symptom from the use of medicine is not always a 
proof of its cure, and this consideration should be 
a good reason for a thorough and persistent effort 
to accomplish the cure of dyspepsia by means of a 
regulation of the diet on the principles advocated 
in the preceding pages. This is of special impor- 



142 DYSPEPSIA. 

tance in the case of dyspepsia, because so many 
persons have what they consider a perfect cure for 
it, and are the more ready to communicate their 
method because it has the very great advantage 
that it can do no harm if it does no good, as it is 
such a simple remedy; a little saleratus for example, 
which will cure the belching or remove the acidity 
in five minutes; which is very true, but removing a 
symptom is not eradicating a disease ; smothering 
a fire is not putting it out. A gentleman who suf- 
fered from a mild form of dyspepsia was advised to 
take a little soda dissolved in water after each 
meal; it 

WORKED LIKE A CHARM. 

He spent a considerable portion of his time in 
speaking of its wonderful virtues to his friends and 
to everybody with dyspeptic symptoms, who hap- 
pened to come under his notice. One day he fell 
down dead. 

If you put a tablespoon of sugar in a cup of warm 
water, it disappears ; but allow the vessel to remain 
on the stove, the water will soon disappear and 
every particle of the sugar will be found in the bot- 
tom of the cup. The soda was dissolved in water 
and drank ; the water evaporated in the warmth of 



DIGESTIBILITY. 143 

the body and left the soda behind in a solid mass ; 
weighing several ounces, and in a position in the 
alimentary canal which caused death, as above 
stated. A remedy which has no capacity for harm* 
has no power of doing any good 

EXPERIMENTS. 

The experiments of Dr. Beaumont, in ascertain- 
ing the time required to digest various kinds of 
food, are the foundation of all the tables which 
have been prepared since in Europe and America. 
Many things in reference to the same subject need- 
ed further investigation, and the author wrote to 
Dr. Beaumont, in 1854, to know if he intended to 
prosecute his inquiries. He replied that he did so 
if' arrangements could be made with St. Martin ; 
but before that could be brought about the doctor 
died. St. Martin visited New York afterwards, 
and then went abroad with a view to ascertain if 
he could hire himself out to experimenters ; but, as 
far as known, no one was willing in all the world 
to take the trouble. 

In looking over these tables the reader should 
regard them as only approximative, 'and as general 
truths, for it is known that some persons can di- 
gest some articles of food sooner than others, and 
with greater ease. 



144 DYSPEPSIA. 

The proportion of the elements of various kinda 
of food have been ascertained at great cost of time 
and labor by chemical analysis, and may be regard- 
ed as scientifically true. But, in reference to the 
whole subject, nothing can be more certain, than, if 
any man lives by any rule as inflexible as that of 
the Medes and Persians, which could never be re- 
pealed, he would not live long. The best and 
healthiest way of eating is in general to take what 
one likes best at regular times, and nothing be- 
tween; and he is among the 

MOST MISERABLE OF MEN, 

who spends a large part of his time in thinking ol 
what he must eat the next meal, or who eats accord- 
ing to rule, rather than instinct, rather than ac- 
cording to nature ; who eats this because it is winter 
and he needs carbon, or takes that because it is 
summer, and hence he must discard meats and fats 
and sweets. They live longest in all climes who 
eat whatever is before them in moderation and live 
industriously either as to brain or body, for it is 
quite as exhausting on the reserves of strength to 
think hard as to work hard, and it makes a man 
quite as hungry. Hence the food tables which fol- 



NUTRITIVE VALUE OF FOOD. 145 

low are to be used more as general guides for gene- 
ral information. 

In the table on the following page it is to be con- 
sidered that seven thousand grains make a pound, 
and it is to be read thus : in any pound of baker's 
bread there are twenty hundred grains of carbon 
of the heat producing principle, and ninety grains 
of nitrogen, the principle which gives strength and 
out of which flesh or muscle is made. 



14G 



DYSPEPSIA. 



No. I— NUTRITIVE VALUE OF FOOD. 



PROPORTION OF CARBON TO THE POUND, ALSO OF 
NITROGEN. 



Whey, . 
Turnips, 
Beer and porter, 
Buttermilk, . 

Skimmed milk, 
New milk, . 
Carrots, . 
Green vegetables, 
Parsnips, 
Potatoes, 
Whitefish, 
Beef liver, . 
Red herring-, . 
Baker's bread, . 
Molasses, • • 
Beef, . 
Skim cheese, . 
Chedder cheese, 
Pearl barley, . 
Rye meal, . 
Seconds flour, 
Split peas and rice, 
Indian-meal, . 
Oatmeal, . 
Sugar, . , 
Mutton, 
Fresh pork, . 
Cocoa, . 
Green bacon, . 
Dry bacon, . 
Sweet butter, . 
Lard, . 
Suet, 

Fresh butter, 
Dripping, 



154 

238 

315 

335 

350 

378 

385 

420 

420 

770 

900 

1226 

1435 

2000 

2200 

2300 

2350 

2520 

2660 

2660 

2660 

2730 

2800 

2800 

2S00 

2900 

2950 

3934 

3990 

4270 

4585 

4820 

4700 

4700 

5320 



13 

1 

34 
34 
34 
14 

12 

24 
130 
210 
217 

90 

175 

364 
315 

92 

70 
ISO 

70 
130 
140 

» 

140 
110 
140 

80 
100 



* Sugar, syrups, dripping, suet, lard, and butter, contain no appreciabl 
nitrogen. 



PREFERABLE FOOD. 147 

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF NUTRITION. 

The dyspeptic will note with interest that tho 
food which is best for him contains the largest pro- 
portions combined of the two most essential ele- 
ments of nutrition — meat and bread ; to be more 
specific, lean meats and cereal food — that is the 
whole of the grain of oats, rye, wheat, barley, or 
corn, made into porridge. For example, oats and 
Indian meal contain among the highest, the con- 
stituents of carbon; and, at the same time, the fresh 
lean meats, of beef and mutton are among the 
richest articles named in nitrates, and in addition 
to that are among the easier kinds of foods 
for digestion, requiring but about three hour3. 
The ox lives on grass and hay and corn, and his 
powerful stomach grinds these up for flesh-maiing 
materials in himself, does the rough and hard 
work, as it were, for us, turns these into flesh, 
leaving for us to take that flesh and do the easy 
remaining part of turning it into our flesh. 

Again, bread and cheese abound largely in both 
carbon and nitrogen, hence it is that the sturdy 
English laborers and farmers are very well satis- 
fied to make a dinner on 



143 DYSrEPSIA, 

BUS AD AND CHEESE, 

especially if the inevitable mug of beer is added to 
" wash it down." 

There is another reason why the dyspeptic should 
use the cereals instead of fine bread ; flour made 
up of the whole grain of oats, rye, wheat, or corn, 
is very rich in tooth and bone-making material 
because the outside hull or skin, called the bran, 
has adhering to it in process of grinding the much 
larger portion of that element, the mineral, which 
is necessary to hard, sound teeth, and to keep them 
hard ; and good teeth are as important in their 
beneficial bearings on digestion as sharp case- 
knives, named on a previous page. By the follow- 
ing table it will be seen that a bushel of bran 
weighing twelve pounds has seven times as much 
mineral matter, lime mainly, as a bushel of the 
finest, whitest, family flour ; and it is this mineral 
matter out of which the tooth is made and the 
enamel which covers it. And there can be no 
doubt that an important cause of dyspepsia, and of 
its aggravation, is faulty teeth, made thus by the 
almost universal custom of feeding children on the 
finest flour from their earliest years, instead of 
porridge and mush and grits and hominy. 



PREPARING BABY FOOD. 149 

No. II.— TOOTH AND BONE-MAKING MATERIAL. 



VEGETABLE FOOD. 



POUNDS 
PER BUSHEL. 


NITROGEN. 


56 


1.70 


56 


1.86 


26 


2.40 


16 


2.43 


12 


2.40 J 



Fine flour, • . 56 1.70 0.71 

Seconds, 56 1.86 0.99 

Sharps, 26 2.40 2.90 

Fine pollards, 16 2.43 6.00 

Bran, 12 2.40 J 7.00 

If a pound of corn meal, or a pound of human 
milk, contains a hundred equivalents of nourish- 
ment, a pound of rice will have but eighty-one, and 
a pound of cow's milk two hundred and thirty-seven, 
thus making cow's milk more than twice as rich as 
human milk, causing it to be much 

TOO KICH FOR THE BABY ; 

and, to make it poorer, water is added, otherwise 
the baby would soon be killed, and as the cow's 
milk is very unequal in its richness, it is import- 
ant, that if an infant is fed by artificial means, the 
milk of the same cow should be used. But to know 
how much to dilute it from time to time as the child 
increases in age and requires stronger and 
stronger food — less and less dilution — it requires a 
closer observation, and a sounder judgment than 
most nurses have, to prepare the little one's food 
properly. To its improper preparation may well 
be attributed much of the dyspepsia of after life ; 
constituting a very strong reason why every mother 
should nurse her own child, and then Nature, with 



1^0 DYSPEPSIA. 

htvr unerring instincts, regulates the richness of its 
nutrition and adapts it to the varying needs of the 
system, as no other nurse can do. And since dys- 
pepsia often has its foundation laid in infancy and 
childhood, it is in the line of this book to throw out 
the above suggestion, that intelligent and conscien- 
tious mothers may have some care to avert a malady 
which often makes its possessor miserable for the 
greater part of a lifetime. Possibly the mother, 
herself a dyspeptic sufferer, may, in pity to her own 
offspring, feel thankful and happy in having the 
opportunity afforded of informing herself on the 
general subject, and having some hints of a practical 
character for guidance. Some of these have been 
already given, and for their confirmation, as well as 
for the opportunity it affords of introducing addi- 
tional information, it was thought desirable to give 
word for word an article written by Eustace Smith* 
M.D., of London, physician to the King of the Bel- 
gians, and to several hospitals in the British Me- 
tropolis, taken from a second number of the Sani- 
tary Record, and copied by The Sanitarian, the 
most ably conducted periodical in America, edited 
by A. N. Bell, M.D., who, as a sanitarian, has no 
superior in this country.* The article is on the 

* The Sanitarian, published monthly at 79 Nassau-street, New York. 



HAND-FEEDING OF INFANTS. 151 

HAND-FEEDING OF INFANTS. 

And when it is remembered that during a part of 
the summer of 1875 in New York city a hundred 
young children died every day, and mostly from 
looseness of the bowels, the explanation of the 
cause and mode of eating and remedy brought 
out in the following extract is of very great impor- 
tance : 

" There are few subjects of greater interest, or of 
which it is more important, in a sanitary sense, to 
possess an accurate knowledge than that which re- 
lates to the feeding and nurture of infants. Many 
mothers are unable to nurse their babies, and there 
is an increasing dislike to transfer maternal duties 
to a hireling ; consequently the question how best to 
provide a fitting diet for a being whose digestive 
powers are feeble and immature, but whose growth 
and healthy devlopement are dependent upon a 
suitable supply of nourishment, is one to which it 
is of the utmost importance to furnish a correct 
answer. 

" The mortality among children under the age of 
twelve months is enormous, and of these deaths a 
large proportion might be prevented by a wider 



152 DYSPEPSIA. 

diffusion of knowledge of one of the least difficult 
of subjects. The rules for the efficient nourishment 
of infants are plain and simple, and the applicction 
of them, although requiring tact and judgment, is 
yet not a matter which ought to occasion any extra- 
ordinary embarrassment. 

" The great principle at the bottom of all success- 
ful feeding — viz., that an infant is nourished in pro- 
portion to his power of digesting the food with 
which he is supplied, and not in proportion to the 
quantity of nutritive material which he may be in- 
duced to swallow — is so obviously true that an 
apology might almost seem to be required for 
stating so self-evident a proposition ; but experi- 
ence shows that this simple truth is one which in 
practice is constantly lost sight of. That that child 
thrives best who is most largely fed, and that th- 
more solid the food the greater its nutritive power- 
are two articles of faith so firmly settled in the 
minds of many persons, that it is very difficult in, 
deed to persuade them to the contrary. To them 
wasting in an infant merely suggests a larger supply 
of more solid food; every cry means hunger, and 
must be quieted by an additional meal. To take a 
common case : A child, weakly perhaps to begin 
with, is filled with a quantity of solid food which he 



HAND-FEEDING OF INFANTS. 153 

has no power of digesting. His stomach and bowels 
revolt against the burden imposed upon them, and 
endeavor to get rid of the offending matter by 
vomiting and diarrhoea ; a gastro-intestinal catarrh 
is set up, which still further reduces the strength ; 
ever} 7 " meal causes a return of the sickness ; the 
bowels are filled with fermenting matter, which ex- 
cites violent griping pains, so that the child rests 
neither night nor day ; after a longer or shorter time 
he sinks worn out by pain and exhaustion, and is 
then said to have died from ' consumption of the 
bowels/ 

1 Cases such as the above are but too common, and 
must be painfully familiar to every physician who 
has much experience of the diseases of children. 
When seen sufficiently early, the treatment of the 
derangement is simple and the improvement imme- 
diate, but it unfortunately often happens, especially 
°mong the poorer classes, that application for advice 
is delayed until the child's strength has been reduced 
to the lowest point, and all our efforts to remedy the 
mischief may in such cases prove unavailing. 

" The disastrous results of ignorant attempts to 

supply a substitute for human milk have brought 

the whole practice of hand-feeding into disrepute ; 

but if a food be judiciouslv selected, with a correct 
10 



154 DYSPEPSIA. 

appreciation of infant wants, and an accurate esti- 
mate of infant powers of digestion, there is no reason 
why a child fed artificially, with judgment, should 
not thrive as well as one suckled naturally at his 
mothers breast. The food we select for the diet of 
an infant should be nutritious in itself, but it 
should also be given in a form in which the child 
is capable of digesting it, otherwise we may fill 
him with food without in any way contributing to 
his nutrition, and actually starve the body while 
we load the stomach to repletion. No food can be 
considered suitable to the requirements of the in- 
fant unless it not only possess heat-giving and fat- 
producing properties, but also contains material to 
supply the waste of the nitrogeneous tissues ; there- 
fore a merely starchy substance, such as arrowroot, 
which enters so largely into the diet of children, 
especially among the poor, is a very undesirable 
food for infants, unless given in very small quanti- 
ties and mixed largely with milk. 

" The most perfect food for children, the only one, 
indeed, which can be trusted to supply in itself all 
the necessary elements of nutrition, in the most 
digestible form, is milk. In it are contained nitro- 
geneous matter in the curd, fat in the cream, be- 
sides sugar, and the salts which are so essential to 



HAND-FEEDING OF INFANTS. 155 

p3rfect nutrition. The milk of different animals 
varies to a certain extent in the proportion of the 
several constituents, some containing more curd, 
others more cream and sugar ; but the milk of the 
cow, which is always readily obtainable, is the one 
to which recourse is usually had, and when proper- 
ly prepared this is perfectly efficient for the pur- 
pose required. Cow's milk contains a larger pro- 
portion of curd and cream, but less sugar, than is 
found in human milk, and these differences can be 
immediately remedied by dilution with water and 
the addition of cane or milk sugar in sufficient 
quantity to supply the necessary sweetness. But 
there is another and more important difference be- 
tween the two fluids which must not be lost sight 
of. If we take two children, the one fed on cow's 
milk and water, the other nursed at his mothers 
breast, and produce vomiting after a meal by fric- 
tion over the abdomen, we notice a remarkable dif- 
ference in the matters ejected. In the first case we 
see the curd of the milk coagulated into a firm, 
dense lump, while in the second the curd appears 
in the form of minute flocculent loosely connected 
granules. The demand made upon the digestive 
powers in these two cases is very different, and the 
experiment explains the difficulty often experienced 



156 DYSPEPSIA. 

by infants in digesting cow's milk, however diluted 
it may be, for the addition of water alone will not 
hinder the firm clotting of the curd. In order to 
make such milk perfectly satisfactory as a food for 
new-born infants, further preparation is required, 
and there are two ways in which the difficulty may 
be overcome. 

The first method consists in adding an alkali, as 
lime-water, to the milk. To be of any service, 
however, the quantity added must be consider- 
able, and one or two teaspoonfull — the adddition 
usually made to a bottleful of milk and water — is 
quite insufficient to effect the object desired. Lime- 
water contains only half a grain of lime to the fluid 
ounce ; of this solution so small a quantity as two 
teaspoonsfull would be scarcely sufficient even to 
neutralize the natural acidity of the milk. But it 
is necessary to do much more than this. Lime 
water, no doubt, acts by partially neutralizing the 
gastric juice — the rennet naturally existing in the 
child's stomach — so that clotting of the curd is in 
great part prevented, and the milk passes little 
changed out of the stomach to be fully digested by 
the intestinal secretion in the bowels. To attain 
this object at least a third part of the mixture 
should consist of lime-water. For a new-born in- 



HAND-FEEDING OF INFANTS. 157 

fant two tablespoonsfull of milk may be diluted 
with an equal quantity of plain filtered water, and 
then be alkalinized by two tablespoonsfull of lime- 
water. This mixture, ot which only a third part is 
milk, can be sweetened by the addition of a tea- 
spoonful of milk-sugar. If thought desirable a tea- 
spoonful of cream may be added. The whole is 
then put into a perfectly clean feeding-bottle, and 
is heated to a temperature of about 95° Fahr. by 
steeping the bottle in hot water ; when warmed it 
is ready for use. The proportion of milk can be 
gradually increased as the child gets older. 

" There is another plan by which the caseine of 
cow's milk may be rendered digestible ; it is by 
adding to the milk a small quantity of some thick- 
ening substance, such as barley-water, isinglass, or 
even one of the ordinary farinaceous foods. The 
action of all of these is the same, and is an entirely 
mechanical one. The thickening substance sepa- 
rates the particles of curd, so that they cannot run 
together into a solid lump, but coagulate separ- 
ately into a multitude of small masses. By this 
means the curd is made artificially to resemble the 
naturally light clot of human milk, and is almost 
as readily digested by the infant. 



158 DYSPEPSIA. 

"Although any thickening matter will have the 
mechanical effect desired of separating the particles 
of curd, yet it is not immaterial what substance is 
chosen. The question of the farinaceous feeding of 
infants is a very important one, for it is to an ex- 
cess of this diet that so many of their derangements 
may often be attributed. Owing to a mistaken 
notion that such foods are peculiarly light and 
digestible — a notion so widely prevalent that the 
phrase " food for infants " has become almost sy- 
nonymous with farinaceous matter — young babies 
are often fed as soon as they are born with large 
quantities of corn-flour or arrow-root, mixed some- 
times with milk, but often with water alone. Now, 
starch, of which all the farinse so largely consist, is 
digested principally by the saliva, aided by the se- 
cretion from the pancreas, which convert the starch 
into dextrine and grape-sugar previous to absorp- 
tion. But the amount of saliva formed in the new- 
born infant is excessively scanty, and it is not 
until the fourth month that the secretion becomes 
fully established. Again, according to the experi- 
ments of Korowin of St. Petersburg, the pancreatic 
juice is almost absent in a child of a month old; 
even in the second month its secretion is very limit- 
ed, and has little action upon starch. It is only at 



HAND-FEEDING OF INFANTS. 159 

the end of the third month that its action upon 
starch becomes sufficiently powerful to furnish 
material for a quantitative estimation of the sugar 
formed. Therefore, before the age of three months 
a farinaceous diet is not to be recommended — is 
even to be strongly deprecated, unless the starchy 
substance be given with great caution and in very 
small quantities. If administered recklessly, as it 
too often is, the food lies undigested in the bowels, 
ferments, and sets up a state of acid indigestion, 
which in so young and feeble a being may lead to 
the most disastrous consequences. In fact, the 
deaths of many children under two or three months 
old can often be attributed to no other cause than a 
purely functional abdominal derangement, excited 
and maintained by too liberalfeedingwith farinaceous 
foods. There is, however, one form of food, which 
although farinaceous is yet well digested even by 
young infants, if given in moderate quantities. 
This is barley water. The starch it contains is 
small in amount and is held in a state of very fine 
division. When barley-water is mixed with milk 
in equal proportions it ensures a fine separation 
of the curd, and is at the same time a harmless 
addition to the diet. Isinglass or gelatine, in the 
proportion of a teaspoonful to the bottleful of milk 



ICO DYSPEPSIA. 

and water, may also be made use of, and will be 
found to answer the purpose well. 

" Farinaceous foods, in general, are, as has been 
said, injurious to young babies, on account of the 
deficiency during the first months of life of the 
secretions necessary for the conversion of the starch 
into the dextrine and grape-sugar — a preliminary 
process which is indispensable to absorption. If, 
however, we can make such an addition to the food 
as will insure the necessary chemical change, fari- 
naceous matter ceases to be injurious. It has been 
found that by adding to it malt in certain propor- 
tions the same change is excited in the starch arti- 
ficially as is produced naturally by the salivary 
and pancreatic secretions during the process of 
digestion. The employment of malt for this pur- 
pose was first suggested by Mialhe in a paper read 
before the French Academy in 1845, and the 
suggestion was put into practice by Liebig fifteen 
years later. 

u ' Liebig's Food for Infants ' contains wheat 
flour, malt, and a little carbonate of potash, and 
has gained a well-deserved celebrity as a food for 
babies during the first few months of life. The best 
form witn which I am acquainted is that made by Mr. 
Mellin under the name of 'Mellin's Extract for pre- 



HAND-FILING OF INFANTS. 161 

paring Liobig's Food for Infants.' In this prepara- 
tion, owing to the careful way in which it is manu- 
factured, the whole of the starch is converted into 
dextrine and grape-sugar, so that the greater part of 
the work of digestion is performed before the food 
reaches the stomach of the child. Mixed with equal 
parts of milk and water, this food is as perfect a sub- 
stitute for mother's milk as can be produced, and is 
readily digested by the youngest infants. It very 
rarely, indeed, happens that it is found to disagree. 
"In all cases, then, where a child is brought up by 
hand, milk should enter largely into his diet, and 
during the first few months of life he should be fed 
upon it almost entirely. If he can digest plain 
milk and water, there is no reason for making any 
other addition than that of a little milk, sugar, and 
cream ; but in cases where, as often happens, the 
heavy curd taxes the gastric powers too severely, 
the milk may be thickened by an equal proportion 
of thin barley-water, or by adding to each bottleful 
of milk and water a teaspoonful of isinglass or of 
' Mellin's Extract.' 

FIRST MONTH. 

"Having fixed upon the kind of food which is suit- 
able tojihe child, we must next be careful that it is 



/ 



1G2 DYSPEPSIA. 

not given in too large quantities, or that the meals 
are not repeated too frequently. If the stomach be 
kept constantly overloaded, even with a digestible 
diet, the effect is almost as injurious as if the child 
were fed upon a less digestible food in more reason- 
able quantities. A healthy infant passes the 
greater part of his time asleep, waking at intervals 
to take nourishment. These intervals must not be 
allowed to be too short, and it is a great mistake to 
accustom the child to take food whenever he cries- 
From three to four ounces of liquid will be a suffi- 
cient quantity during the first six weeks of life; and 
of this only a half or even a third part should con- 
sist of milk, according to the child's powers of di- 
gestion. After such a meal the infant should 
sleep quietly for at least two hours. Fretfulness 
and irritability in a very young baby almost always 
indicate indigestion and flatulence ; and if a child 
cries and whines uneasily, twisting about his body 
and jerking his limbs, a fresh meal given instantly, 
although it may quiet him for the moment, will after 
a short time, only increase his discomfort. 

TWO MONTHS. 

" During the first six weeks or two months, two 
hours will be a sufficient interval between the meals; 



HAND-FEEDING OF INFANTS. 1G3 

afterwards this interval can be lengthened, and at 
the same time a larger quantity may be given at 
each time of feeding. No more food should be 
prepared at once than is required for the par- 
ticular meal. The position of the child as he takes 
food should be half reclining, as when he is applied 
to his mother's breast, and the food should be given 
from a feeding-bottle. When the contents of the 
bottle are exhausted, the child should not be 
allowed to continue sucking at an empty vessel, as 
by this means air is swallowed, which might after- 
wards be a source of great discomfort. The feed- 
ing apparatus must be kept perfectly clean. The 
bottle should be washed out after each meal in 
water containing a little soda in solution, and must 
then lie in cold water until again wanted. It is 
desirable to have two bottles, which can be used 
alternately, 

six MONTHS. 

" At the age of six months farinaceous food may 
be given in small quantities with safety, if it be de- 
sired to do so ; and in some cases the addition of 
a moderate proportion of wheaten flour to the diet 
is found to be attended with advantage. The best 
form in which this can be given is the preparation 
of wheat known as * Chapman's entire wheaten 



164 DYSPEPSIA. 

flour.' This is superior for the purpose to the 
ordinary flour, as it contains the inner husk of the 
wheat finely ground, and is therefore rich in phos- 
phates and in a peculiar body called cerealin, which 
has the diastatic property of changing starchy mat- 
ters into dextrine. This flower should be slowly 
baked in an oven until it crumbles into a light 
greyish powder. At first no more than one tea- 
spoonful should be given once or twice a day, 
rubbed up (not boiled) with milk. If there be 
much constipation fine oatmeal may be used 
instead of the baked flour. 

. EIGHT MONTHS. 

"After the eighth month a little thin mutton or 
chicken broth or veal tea may be given, carefully 
freed from all grease. After 

TWELVE MONTHS 

the child may begin to take light puddings, well- 
mashed potatoes with gravy, orthe lightly boiled yolk 
of an egg ; but no meat should be allowed until the 
child be at least sixteen months old. Every new 
article of food should be given cautiously, and in 
small quantities at first, and any sign of indiges- 
tion should be noted, and a return be made at onca 
to a simpler method of feeding. 



HAND FEEDING OF. INFANTS 1G5 

u During all this time the child should be kept 
scrupulously clean, and his nursery should be well 
ventilated and not be kept too hot. He should be 
washed twice a day from head to foot, once with 
soap. The air of his bedroom should be kept sweet 
and pure during the day, and at night, if the 
weather do not allow of an open window, a lamp 
placed in the fender will insure of a sufficient ex- 
change of air. The child should pass as much of 
his time as possible out of doors, and while every 
care is taken to guard his sensitive body against 
sudden changes of temperature, he must not be 
covered up with too heavy clothing and shut off 
from every breath of air for fear of his catching 
cold. A child ought to lie cool at night, and the 
furniture of his cot, although sufficiently thick to 
insure necessary warmth, should not be cumber- 
some, so as to be a burden. If the above directions 
are carefully carried out — and the mother should 
herself see that they are attended to — few cases 
will be found to present any difficulty in their 
management." 



16.6 



DYSPEPSIA. 



No III.— NUTRITIVE EQUIVALENTS. 

[To read this table aright, it is only necessary to say that, if, in a certain 
amount of food, there are, in rice, for example, eighty-one equivalents 
of nutriment, there are in an equal weight of potatoes eighty-four, and 
so on.] 





NAME. 


IN DRIED 


ANIMAL 




VEGETABLES. 


FOOD. 


Rice, . , 




81 




Potatoes, 


# 






84 





Maize, or Indian-corn, 


t # 






100 


— 


Rye, . 


# # 






106 


— 


Radish, . 


t t 










106 





Wheat, 


# ( 










119 





Barley, 


, . 










125 


— 


Oats, . 


• 4 










138 


— 


Bread, white • 












142 


— 


Bread, black , • 


# 










166 


— 


Peas, . , 


« 






• 




239 


«• 


Lentils, * 


• < 










276 


— 


Haricots, % 








• 




TO 


~ 


Beans, . . 


• 4 










MO 





Milk, human • , 








) 







100 


Milk, cow's , . 


• 4 










_ 


237 


Eggs> yolk of . , 








, 




_ 


305 


Oysters, . . 


• 4 










_ 


305 


Cheese, . . , 


► • 






• 




_ 


331 


Veal, . . • 


• 













434 


Muscle, . • , 


• 






, , 




„_ 


528 


Liver, beef . • 


• 










_ 


570 


Pigeon, . . , 


. 






. , 







756 


Mutton, 


• 






— 


773 



In a weak state of the stomach, it cannot have 
concentrated food, for the more nourishment there 
is in a given quantity, the more digestive power 
the stomach must have, and it is the want of this 
power which constitutes the very essence of dys- 
peptic diseases; hence, on general principles, the 
more water any article of food has, the more easily 



ELEMENTS OF FOOD. 167 

is it digested. It would not answer for a dyspep 
tic to eat boiled or baked beans, as any one ma 
know ; they have eighty-seven parts of nutriment 
and only fourteen of water. Professor B. W. 
Dudley, Professor of Anatomy and Surgery in 
Transylvania University, at a time when it was 
the second medical school in the United States, 
was very fond of recommending to all who were 
debilitated and required good food to use boiled 
turnips, only four per cent, of which is nutriment, 
and ninety-six waste and water. In this connec- 
tion the following will be examined with consider- 
able interest by the intelligent and investigating* 



168 



DYSPEPSIA. 



No. IV.— SOLIDITY AND MATTER OF FOOD. 



IN 100 PARTS OF, THERE IS PERCENTAGE OP 



SOLID 
MATTER. 



WATER. 



Arabic, gum . 

Artichokes, , 

Apricots, . 

Arrowroot, 

Almond oil, 

Butter, 

Bread, 

Beans, 

Blood, 

Beef, fresh . 

Beef tea, 

Cabbage, . • 

Carrots, . 

Cherries, 

Cucumbers, 

Candy, 

Egg, white of . 

Egg, yolk . 

Fish, average, 

Figs. 

Gooseberries, . 

Hogs' lard, 

Isinglass, 

Leguminous seeds, 

Lentils, . 

Manna, 

Mutton suet, . 

Milk of cow, 

Milk of ass, . , 

Milk of goat, . 

Olive oil, • 

Oats, . . . 

Oatmeal, . , 

Oysters, . . 

Pease, . . 

Potatoes, . . 

Peaches, . 

Pears, . , . 

Poultry, 

Rye, . 

Sugar, average, . 

Starch, average, . 

Wheat, . 



25 

82 

100 

83 

68 

87 

20 

25 

2 

8 

12 

25 

3 

90 

20 

46 

20 

84 

18 

100 

92 

84 



100 





13 


87 


8 


92 


13 


86 


100 





79 


21 


83 


7 


13 


87 


84 


16 


24 


76 


20 


80 


16 


84 


23 


77 


S3 


17 



84 
86 



12 
80 
75 
18 

17 
32 

14 
80 
75 
98 
92 
88 
75 
97 
10 
80 
64 
80 
16 
81 



16 
40 



16 

14 



MODE OF PREPARING FOOD. 1C9 

The two following tables, stating the mode of 
preparation of various articles of food, and the 
time required for digestion and passing out of the 
stomach, are precisely alike, only .that one is in 
alphabetical order for convenience of reference and 
saving time ; the other gives the same information 
in the order of the easiness of digestion, taking it 
for granted that the facility of change was in pro- 
portion to the shortness of time required. They 
may be relied upon as being the accurate results of 
active visual observation. As Dr. Beaumont- could 
see into the stomach, and notice what was going 
on there, he must have done it with a deli- 
cious interest. Such opportunity had never before 
occurred, and been improved, in the whole history 
of the world, and he must have been conscious of 
the delight which it would give the scientific mind 
of all nations to read the result; and there can be 
no doubt that this consideration, as well as his 
love for scientific research, and the important bear- 
ing it would have on physiological investigation 
and observation, sustained him in his tedious 
labor, extending over months and years; and made 
more difficult, as he informed the writer by letter, 
on account of the peculiar disposition of the 

patient, a certain degree of stubbornness, and 
11 



170 DYSPEPSIA. 

occasional addiction to excessive indulgence in 
strong drink. The same considerations, added to 
a consciousness on the bearing it would have on 
human well-being, were well calculated to impress 
his mind with the importance of the strictest 
accuracy in his observations and in noting them 
down. 

OBJECT OF EATING. 

Children have to eat for four reasons, warmth, 
growth, strength, and repair ; but when they have 
completed their growth, one of the necessities no 
longer exists. The young are always ready to eat ; 
can eat all the time, apparently, and with such a 
delight that it is almost a young heaven to them ; 
and your memories of it often travel backwards 
over the weary road of sixty and seventy years, 
and in a measure live it over again with mellow- 
ing sadness. How the eyes danced with delighted 
expectancy, in looking at the apples hanging from 
the trees in the orchard, the cutting of the luscious 
watermelon, and the sap of the " skillet " of sixty 
years agone ; the homely ginger cake and dump- 
ling, not forgetting the bread and butter, with 
sugar on it, provided by the indulgent grand- 
mother. This ever ready appetite of the young is 
the result of that ceaseless activitv observed in 



OBJECT OF EATING. 171 

childhood, and which often prompts the impatient 
exclamation, 

" THEY ARE NEVER STILL.'* 

But this constant wanting to do something is an 
instinctive necessity of childhood, implanted by 
infinite wisdom as a means of creating an appe- 
tite for that large amount of food which is essential 
to growth, and this same activity is just as im- 
portant in carrying on the digestion of what has 
been eaten. Hence compelling children to be still 
for a moment, against their will, is but a fighting 
against their natural instincts, which never can be 
done with impunity. No doubt it would please the 
weary mother, longing for quiet and repose, to have 
her half dozen little ones sit around her in still- 
ness and silence, but it would kill them; they 
would eat, but their food would not be digested, 
and they would soon fall into wasting diarrhoeas 
and an early grave. It is a thousand times better 
to have romping, noisy, hilarious, "mischievous" 
children, than have them pale and silent and 
sickly; a million times better is it to a loving 
mother's ear to listen to the ringing laugh than to 
hear the moan of some painful, eating disease, 
working its resistless way into the very vitals. Do 



172 DYSPEPSIA. 

not use an iron despotism over your children to 
school them into the habit of stillness and quiet ; 
if you do, there will, but too soon, be enough of it 
in the early grave, and then you would be willing 
and eager to give everything you had in the world 
to have those noises back again 

This apparent digression has been made in part 
to impress on the reader's mind some of the 
important elements in the cure of dyspepsia. In 
proportion as the joyousness of childhood can be 
brought about, their activities, their perfect de- 
light to be in the open air, in such proportion will 
the cure of dyspepsia be facilitated; then these 
things should be aimed at all the time, and ways 
and means should be constantly devised for bring- 
ing them about, and fortunate is he who has deter- 
mination, ambition, and force of will enough to 
accomplish the object. 



DIGESTIBILITY OF FOOD. 



173 



L T o. V.— DIGESTIBILITY OF FOOD 

IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER. 



Aponeurosis, . 

Apples, mellow . 

Apples, sour, hard 

Apples, sweet and mellow 

Barley, .... 

Bass, striped 

Beans, pod 

Beans, with green corn, 

Beef, .... 

Beefsteak, . . 

Beef, old, salted, • 

Beets, .... 

Brains, animal • 

Bread, corn • • 

Bread, wheat • 

Butter, 

Cabbage, 

Cabbage and vinegar, 

Cabbage, 

Carrot, 

Cartilage (gristle), 

Catfish, 

Cheese, old . • , 

Chicken, • • 

Codfish, dry . 

Corn cake, 

Corn, green, and beans, 

Custard, 

Duck, tame . • 

Duck, wild 

Dumpling, apple 

Eggs, hard . . • 

Eggs, soft 

Eggs, 

Effgs, «... 

Eggs, 

Eggs 

Flounders, . . 

Fowls, roasted or . 

Gelatine, . . • 

Goose, wild 

Heart, animal • • 

Lamb, .... 

Liver, 

Harrow, .... 



MODE OP 


TIME OP 


PREPARATION. 


DIGESTION. 




H. M. 


Boiled. 


3 30 


Raw. 


2 50 


Raw. 


2 50 


Raw. 


1 50 


Boiled. 


2 00 


Broiled. 


3 00 


Boiled. 


2 30 


Boiled. 


3 45 


Roasted. 


3 00 


Broiled. 


3 00 


Boiled. 


4 15 


Boiled. 


3 45 


Boiled. 


1 45 


Baked. 


3 15 


Baked. 


3 30 


Melted. 


3 30 


Raw. 


2 30 


Raw. 


2 00 


Boiled. 


4 30 


Boiled. 


3 15 


Boiled. 


4 15 


Fried. 


3 30 


Raw. 


3 30 


Fricasseed. 


3 45 


Boiled. 


2 00 


Baked. 


3 00 


Boiled. 


3 45 


Baked. 


2 45 


Roasted. 


4 00 


Roasted. 


4 50 


Boiled. 


3 00 


Boiled. 


3 30 


Boiled. 


3 00 


Fried. 


3 30 


Roasted. 


2 15 


Raw. 


2 00 


Whipped. 


1 30 


Fried. 


2 30 


Boiled. 


4 00 


Boiled. 


2 30 


Roasted. 


2 30 


Fried. 


4 00 


Boiled. 


2 30 


Boiled. 


2 00 


Boiled. 


2 40 



174 



DYSPEPSIA, 



DIGESTIBILITY OF FOOD— Coxmru ed. 



Meat and vegetables, 

Milk, .... 

Milk, .... 

Mutton, . . . 

Mutton, broiled or 

Oysters, 

Oysters, . 

Oysters, . . . 

Parsnips, 

Pig, .... 

Pigs' feet, 

Pork, 

Pork, .... 

Pork, raw or 

Pork, .... 

Pork, 

Potatoes, 

Potatoes, . 

Potatoes, 

Rice, .... 

Salmon, fresh 

Sausage, 

Soup, barley . 

Soup, bean 

Soup, beef and vegetables 

Soup, chicken 

Soup, marrow bones 

Soup, oysters or mutton 

Suet, beef 

Tapioca, ... 

Tendon, 

Tripe, . 

Tripe, .... 

Trout and salmon, 

Turkey, boiled or 

Turnips, ... 

Veal, .... 

Veal, . 

Vegetables and meat, 

Venison steak, 



MODE OP 


TIME OP 


PREPARATION. 


DIGKSTIO*. 




H. M; 


Hashed. 


2 30 


Raw. 


2 15 


Boiled. 


2 00 


Roast. 


3 15 


Boiled. 


3 00 


Raw. 


2 55 


Roasted. 


3 15 


Stewed. 


3 30 


Boiled. 


2 30 


Roasted. 


2 30 


Soused. 


1 00 


Roast. 


5 15 


Boiled. 


4 30 


Fried. 


4 15 


Broiled. 


3 15 


Stewed. 


3 00 


Boiled. 


3 30 


Baked. 


3 30 


Roasted. 


2 30 


Boiled. 


1 00 


Boiled. 


1 45 


Fried. 


4 00 


Boiled. 


1 30 


Boiled. 


3 00 


Boiled. 


4 00 


Boiled. 


3 00 


Boiled. 


5 00 


Boiled. 


3 30 


Boiled. 


5 30 


Boiled. 


2 00 


Boile I. 


5 30 


Fried. 


1 30 


Soused. 


1 00 


Boiled. 


1 00 


Roasted. 


2 30 


Boiled. 


3 30 


Broiled. 


4 00 


Fried. 


4 30 


Warmed. 


3 30 


Broiled. | 


1 35 



DIGESTIBILITY OF FOOD. 



175 



No. VI.— DIGESTIBILITY OF FOOD. 



Iff OEDBB OF TIMB. 



The following table of the digestibility of the 
most common articles of food, prepared from stand- 
ard authorities, is approximately correct, and is of 
very general practical interest : 



QUALITY. 


PBEPARATION. 


TIME OP 
DIGESTION. 






H. M. 


Cole slaw, .••••• 





1 00 


Rice, . . . 








Boiled. 


1 00 


Pigs' feet, soused . 














Boiled. 


1 00 


Tripe, soused . 














Boiled. 


1 00 


Eggs, whipped 














Raw. 


1 30 


Trout, salmon, fresh 














Boiled. 


1 SO 


Trout, salmon, fresh 














Fried. 


1 30 


Soup, barley 














Boiled. 


1 30 


Apples, sweet, mellow 














Raw. 


1 30 


Venison steak, . . 














Broiled. 


1 35 


Brains, animal . 














Boiled. 


1 45 


Sago, . . 














Boiled. 


1 45 


Tapioca, . . 














Boiled. 


2 00 


Barley, . . . 














Boiled. 


2 00 


Milk, 














Boiled. 


2 00 


Liver, beef's, fresh • 














Broiled. 


2 00 


Eggs, fresh . , 














Raw. 


2 00 


Codfish, cured dry 














Boiled. 


2 00 


Apples, sour, meliow 














Raw. 


2 00 


Cabbage, wflh vinegar, 














Raw. 


2 00 


Milk, 














Raw. 


2 15 


Eggs, fresh . . 














Roasted. 


2 15 


Turkey, wild . 














Roasted. 


2 18 


Turkey, domestic . 














Boiled. 


2 25 


Gelatine, . . 














Boiled. 


2 25 


Turkey, domestic 














Roasted. 


2 30 


Goose, wild . 














Roasted. 


2 30 


Pig, sucking . . 














Roasted. 


2 30 


Lamb, fresh 














Broiled. 


2 30 


Hash, meat and vegetables 














Warmed. 


2 30 


Beans, pod . . , 














Boiled. 


2 30 


Cake, sponge • • 














Baked. 


2 30 


Parsnips, . . , 














Boiled. 


2 30 


Potatoes, Irish • • 












Roasted. 


2 30 


Cabbage, head 






Raw. 


2 30 



I/O 



DYSPEPSIA. 



DIGESTIBILITY OF FOOD— Continued 



QUALITY. 


PREPARATION. 


TIME OP 
DIGESTION. 






H. M. 


Spinal marrow, animal .... 


Boiled. 


2 40 


Chicken, full grown 








Fricasseed. 


2 45 


Custard, . . , 














Baked. 


2 45 


Beef, with salt only, 














Boiled. 


2 45 


Apples, sour, hard 
















Raw. 


2 50 


Oysters, fresh 
















Raw. 


2 55 


Eggs, fresh 
















Soft boiled. 


3 00 


Bass, striped, fresh . 
















Broiled. 


3 00 


Beef, fresh, lean, rare . 
















Roasted. 


3 00 


Pork, recently salted, 
















Stewed. 


3 00 


Mutton, fresh . 
















Broiled. 


3 00 


Soup, 
















Boiled. 


3 00 


Chicken soup, . 
















Boiled. 


3 00 


Aponeurosis, 
















Boiled. 


3 00 


Dumpling, apple 
















Boiled. 


3 00 


Cake, corn . 
















Baked. 


3 00 


Oysters, fresh . , 
















Roasted. 


3 15 


Pork Steak. 
















Broiled. 


3 15 


Mutton, fresh , 
















Roasted. 


3 15 


Bread, Corn 
















Baked. 


3 15 


Carrot, orange . 
















Boiled. 


3 15 


Sausage, fresh 
















Broiled. 


3 30 


Flounder, fresh . 
















Fried. 


3 30 


Catfish, fresh 
















Fried. 


3 30 


Oysters, fresh , 
















Stewed. 


3 30 


Butter, 
















Melted. 


3 30 


Cheese, old, strong, 
















Raw. 


3 30 


Soup, mutton 
















Boiled 


3 30 


Oyster soup, 
















Boiled. 


3 30 


Bread wheat, fresh . 
















Baked. 


3 39 


'1 urnip's, flat 
















Boiled. 


3 30 


Potatoes, Irish 
















Boiled. 


3 30 


Eggs, fresh 
















Hard boiled. 


3 30 


Green corn & beans, 
















Boiled. 


3 45 


Beets, 
















Boiled. 


3 45 


Salmon, salted, 
















Boiled. 


4 00 


Beef, 
















Fried. 


4 00 


Veal, fresh . 










Broiled. 


4 00 



ELEMENTS OF FOOD. 177 



No. VII.— ELEMENTS OP FOOD. 

The ultimate ingredients of all food are carbon to 
warm, and nitrogen to make flesh. Some have no 
carbon, others no nitrogen ; some have both in 
varying proportions ; all have water or waste from 
five to ninety per cent. The table on p. 178 is the 
result of the researches of the ablest chemists of the 
arre. The amount of solid matter in an article of 
food does not mean that amount of nutriment ; for 
a portion of it may be woody fibre, or waste, or 
lime, chalk, iron, or other mineral. The cipher in- 
dicates that not one per cent, of the element is 
found; n. a., not ascertained; blanks mean no pub- 
lished or reliable statements have been made. The 
more water, the more waste; for even woody 
fibre and iron have their essential uses in the sys- 
tem. This and other food tables in this volume 
should be regarded as merely approximative ; they 
are not so much intended to live by as for guid- 
ance in diseased conditions. For example, if con- 
stipated, it is better to use rough food, such a3 has 
much waste and little nutriment, as fruits, berries, 
and the like ; concentrated food, as boiled rice, is 
best for loose bowels ; sirups, and oils, and milk 



178 



DYSPEPSIA. 



cause biliousness and fevers ; sours, as berries, fruits, 
and cole slaw, cure fevers. It is safer, however 
especially in health, to eat by instinct rather than 
by rules or scientific tables. 



IN 100 PARTS OF, THERE IS 
PERCENTAGE OF 



Arabic, gum 

Artichokes, 

Apricots, 

Arrowroot, 

Almond oil, 

Butter, 

Bread, 

Beans, • 

Blood, . 

Beef, fresh 

Beef tea, 

Cabbage, 

Carrots, 

Cherries, 

Cucumbers, 

Candy, 

Egg, white of 

Egg, yolk . 

Fish, average, 

Figs, 

Gooseberries,. 

Hogs' lard, 

Isinglass, 

Leguminous seeds, 

Lentils, 

Manna, . 

Mutton suet, 

Milk of cow, 

Milk of ass, 

Milk of goat, 

Olive oil, • 

Oats, 

Oatmeal, « 

Oysters, • 

Pease, . . 

Potatoes, • 

Peaches, « 

Pears, 

Poultry, , 

Rye, 

Sugar, average 
Starch, average 
Wheat, 



SOLID 
MATTER. 


1 
WATER. 


CARBON. 


88 


12 


36 


28 


80 


9 


25 


75 


— 


82 


18 


36 


100 


— 


77 


83 


17 


66 


68 


32 


31 


87 


14 


38 


20 


80 


10 


25 


75 


10 


2 


98 


— 


8 


92 





12 


88 





25 


75 





3 


97 


— 


90 


10 


43 


20 


80 





46 


54 


— 


20 


80 





84 


16 


— 


18 


81 


— 


100 


— 


79 


92 


7 


— 


— 


— 


37 


84 


16 


37 


— 


40 


— 


100 


— 


70 


13 


87 


— 


8 


92 





13 


86 





100 


— 


77 


79 


21 


40 


83 


7 


— 


13 


87 


36 


84 


16 


— 


24 


76 


11 


20 


80 


— 


16 


84 


— 


23 


77 


— 


83 


17 


39 


— 





42 


84 


16 


36 


86 


14 


39 



n.a. 
n.a. 

n.a. 

n.a. 

n.a. 
3 
8 

n.a. 



DIETING. ITS 

HOW MUCH TO EAT. 

Whether a man shall eat two pounds of food 
every twenty-four hours depends upon age, occupa- 
tion, constitution and temperament. In any 
hundred men or women, there would not be any 
five alike. There is only one rule or principle to 
be applied to all. A man must eat at least enough 
to keep up his strength and flesh; he requires 
that, no less and no more. 

In public institutions it would be impracticable 
to ascertain and then measure out the amount of 
food and drink required for each ; hence the plan 
has been adopted of giving to each a liberal allow- 
ance, and if he can live comfortably on less, he can 
sell the overplus ; this is a common method of 
dealing with soldiers. 

The army ration of food in the United States is 
forty ounces of solid food and five pints of coffee. 
This is larger than in European armies. 

The average amount of food required every day 
for a healthy working man is three-quarters of a 
pound of beef, a pound and a quarter of bread, and 
half an ounce of butter, or thirty-two and a half 
ounces of solid food a day. 



180 DYSPEPSIA. 

Dr. Dalton, an eminent American physiologist, 
found a healthy workman in the open air required 
every day one pound of meat, a pound and three 
ounces of bread, and three and a half ounces oi 
butter, and three and a half pounds of water, or 
six pounds and a quarter of food and drink. 

Dr. Hammond found that a man maintained hia 
e$act weight by taking every day — 

16 ounces of meat, 
IS ounces of bread, 

4 ounces of beets, 

1 ounce oi butter, 

39 ounces of solid food ; 

6 ounces of soup, # 

48 ounces of water, 
10 ounces of coffee, 

64 ounces of fluids; 

103 ounces of solids and fluids, 

or six and a half pounds of food and drink, 
lacking one ounce, showing how much the stomach 
has to work up every day. The restless mind of 
the physiologist has computed how much strength 
this amount of food gives a man, expressed by 
" foot pounds," instead of the old indefinite de- 
signation of horse power, meaning by the strength 
thus expressed, that when this food is oxidized, it 
gives out an amount of heat which, if applied as in 
a steam engine, w r ould raise a body weighing four- 



EAT SLOWLY. 181 

teen millions of pounds one foot every day. But 
all this power is not available in the human body, 
in this direction ; there is not that much power or 
strength to move fourteen millions of stones one 
foot high ; only three and a half million pounds 
are available. There is an apparent loss of about 
three-fourths, but no machine has ever been con- 
trived that will lose as little. It seems as clear a 
loss as that of an open fire, where three-fourths oi 
the heat escapes up the chimney, with no other 
advantage than warming all out doors. The re- 
mainder of this force is expended in every motion 
in the body, the step of the foot, the work of the 
finger, the wink of the eye, the very thought of the 
brain, the very least of which requires an additional 
amount of blood to be pumped out of the heart and 
lungs into the head, in order to supply force for 
the next thought or prosess of mental operation. 
Then there is the immense labor of the busy beat- 
ing heart, which in the pilgrimage of three score 
years and ten thumps three thousand millions of 
times without a stop, and each beat represents a 
force of thirteen pounds. 

From these statements it is clear that no rule 
can be laid down for the dyspeptic, except the 
general one to eat very slowly and in a pleasant 



182 DYSPEPSIA. 

frame of mind, just as much as will leave him in a 
feeling of perfect comfort ; this is the true luxury 
of eating. 

If a person eats with an anxious or troubled 
mind, or while feeling hurried, or if he is so en- 
grossed that his mind is elsewhere, he will have 
eaten too much before he is aware of it, and having 
swallowed his food mechanically, the due amount 
of saliva has not been carried down and mixed 
with it, the result being an unnatural thirst which, 
if gratified, even with cold water, occasions the 
fulness and oppression and general uncomfortable- 
ness which always attends satiety, or as applied 
to animals, 

FOUNDERING. 

A beneficent Providence has made nutriment a 
constituent of an immense variety of vegetable 
growths, and these are more or less nutritious ac- 
cording to latitude and other varying circum- 
stances. 

Sugar or its equivalent is an essential element 
of human nutrition, and there seems to be more 
or less of it in almost every thing that springs 
from the ground in the shape of food. 

As a very general rule the dyspeptic should 
avoid concentrated food, that which has a large 



AVOID CONCENTRATED FOOD. 183 

proportion of food in a small bulk, and but little 
waste, as exemplified in one of the food tables. 
The common white bean has ninety-five per cent. 
of nutriment and only five per cent, of waste; 
the common potato from seventy to eighty per 
cent, of waste; the cabbage seven; and the 
homely turnip four; but in the wise economy of 
nature even this waste answers necessary pur- 
poses, enticing the eater away from too concen- 
trated articles, which, if persisted in, would induce 
a diseased stomach, and which also bear an im- 
portant part of distension at the extremity of the 
alimentary canal which, without expense or trouble, 
answers the purpose of an injection, thus prevent- 
ing constipated habits of body, which would under- 
mine the very strongest constitution sooner or 
later. 

This general observation should be borne in 
mind by all dyspeptics : that while meats cut up 
in very small pieces, as in mince, will be rapidly 
dissolved in the human stomach, even if swallowed 
hastily, such is not the case with vegetables, for, 
however small they may be divided, they require 
for their solution a large proportion of saliva, 
which can only be obtained by the process of de- 
liberate and continued chewing. 



184 DYSPEPSIA. 

It follows from the above statements that if the 
dyspeptic is inclined to costiveness, he should give 
preference to vegetable food, especially that which 
has but a moderate amount of nutriment and a 
large amount of waste, as previously mentioned; 
if not troubled in that way, and the natural 
functions are performed every day, meats may be 
more indulged in, because while they are more 
nutritious they are converted into a condition of 
opposing nutriment to the body, with a less amount 
of digestive power, and the more that power is 
suspended, is unnecessarily exercised, the better. 



RECAPITULATION. 

It is thus seen that dyspepsia and indigestion 
mean one and the same thing : essentially an in- 
ability of the stomach to convert the food introduc- 
ed into it into healthful nutriment ; the idea being 
better conveyed to the mind of the general reader 
by saying that dyspepsia is 

A WEAK STOMACH; 

a stofnach not strong enough to dissolve the food 
healthfully. 

This dyspeptic condition of the stomach is most 
generally brought on by 

Eating too often ; 

Eating too fast ; 

Eating too much ; 

Eating without an appetite. 

By eating too often, that is, at shorter intervals 
than about five hours, three times in the twenty- 
four, the stomach is kept so constantly at work, 
that its strength becomes exhausted so that it cannot 
convert the food into a condition suitable to its im- 
parting nutriment to the body. 
12 ( J85 ) 



186 DYSPEPSIA. 

By eating too fast, the stomach is over-filled 
before one knows it, and with such large lumps 
of food, that before they can be dissolved by the 
gastric juice, they begin to decompose, becomes 
acid, and in other ways, wholly unfit for the health- 
ful purposes of the body. 

By eating too much, the stomach fails to get 
through its work well, and although the food may 
be all dissolved and digested, none of it is done 
well enough for purposes of healthful nutriment. 

By eating without an appetite, the food is intro- 
duced into the stomach without there being an 
adequate amount of gastric juice to dissolve the 
aliment, the presence of this gastric juice being the 
cause of appetite. There are cases in ordinary 
diseases when the patient fails and death ensues, 
not from the effects of the sickness, for that may 
have been cured, but from want of strength to 
recover from the effects of the malady. It is meant 
that the rule of not eating without an appetite, 
should generally apply to dyspeptics, at least for a 
meal or two, and if there is still no inclination to 
eat, the appetite may be invited by something 
savory, as a bunch of fresh, luscious grapes, or a 
baked potato with butter and salt and pepper, or a 
shaving of dried beef; these being passed into the 



RECAPITULATION. 187 

stomach and carried around its sides stimulates or 
healthfully affects the parts so as to cause them to 
pour out some of the reserves of gastric juice, and 
the appetite returns. It often happens that a par- 
son sits down to table with no inclination what- 
ever to eat a particle, and yet by nibbling first at 
this and then at that, he finds that by the time he 
leaves the table he has made a pretty good meal 
for one, who, a few moments before, had no appe- 
tite ; but this is tempting nature, and is a bad 
practice. 

There are other causes of dyspepsia, more or less 
frequent, and more or less direct, but the four 
named are so generally and so directly the means 
by w T hich this annoying disease is brought on, that it 
is not specially necessary to enumerate other 
causes. 

It will be seen that the effect of each one, and of 
all the four causes named, is one and the same : 

Imperfect digestion ; 
Imperfect nutrition; 
Imperfect blood ; 
Imperfect health. 

This imperfect health manifests itself by symp- 
toms, or signs, or indications, 



188 DYSPEPSIA. 

Unusual, 

Unnatural, and 

Uncomfortable feelings. 

These feelings generally draw the attention un- 
pleasantly to the region of the stomach or bottom 
of the throat or neck, or in the mouth, in the form of 

A BAD TASTE, 

especially in the morning, when first getting up. 

When a person has, for a considerable time, 
noticed these symptoms of dyspepsia, and they dis- 
appear for days or weeks or months, and some 
other symptom manifests itself in some other part 
of the body, it is unwise and utterly useless, and a 
perilous loss of time, to apply local remedies or 
general internal means for the removal of the dis- 
comfort from that part ; because the disease is not 
located there, but in the stomach, a foot or two or 
more away. These local or general means some- 
times alleviate and even remove the symptom ; but 
it is always a mere temporary relief, and never, by 
any possible means, a radical remedy ; hence it is 
but a 

SILLY TRIFLING 

with the well-being of the body, and a waste of 
means, and time, and effort. 



PECULIARITIES OF DYSPEPSIA. 189 

Sometimes a dyspeptic stomach does not com- 
plain itself ; and when the applicant for medical 
relief is asked if he has ever noticed any ill-feeling 
about the stomach, he answers quickly, promptly, 
and confidently 

" NEVEB." 

But the skilful physician, by a thorough examina- 
tion of the case will find in the appearance of the 
tongue, feel of the pulse, or color of the skin, or 
temperature of the surface, or in the condition of 
the functional workings of the system, that it is a 
form of 

MASKED DYSPEPSIA : 

that it is the bad blood of dyspepsia manifesting 
itself in the bringing back of some almost forgotten 
pain, or in some form of neuralgia, or sick head- 
ache, or rheumatism, or nausea, or irregular 
bowels, cold feet, chilly body, weak nerves, great 
susceptibility to colds, or other symptoms associat- 
ed with certain mental and moral conditions of the 
applicant, which point conclusively to the fact, that 
the reU cause of the things complained of is in the 
stomach ; and that to it, and it alone, should reme- 
dial means be directed, to authorize any rational 
hope of alleviation, arrest, and permanent cure. 



190 DYSPEPSIA. 

As the disease is weakness of stomach, inability, 
want of strength to perform its work properly, the 
first step is that which should be taken with an 
over-worked man ; give him less to do, give him 
easier work ; work which can be done in a shorter 
time, thus affording longer periods of rest, repose, 
and sleep, and this is done in reference to the 
stomach by giving it 

Regular work ; 

Easy work ; 

Plain work ; 

Eegular work by eating at stated hours and no 
other; 

Easy work by using food which is known to be 
digested with rapidity and facility. 

Plain work, by taking but a few articles at any 
one regular meal, and such as are more nearly 
allied to the nature of blood, as fresh meats ; and 
those which have a tendency to purify the blood, as 
fruits and berries in their ripe, natural, and raw 
states, taken before meals, so that their grateful 
and health-giving juices may be absorbed into the 
circulation, in their purity and healthfuiness, with- 
out admixture of other things ; and the whole 
grain of cereals, whether oats, corn, wheat, rye, or 
barley, so as to serve those mineral constituents, 



FRESH MEATS. 191 

which are so necessary to give strength to the bones, 
vigor to the muscles, and life to the blood. 

In using fresh meats, care is to be given in cut- 
ting them up in pea-sized pieces, so that they may 
be more speedily dissolved by the gastric juices ; 
but inasmuch as the fluids which are essential to 
the proper dissolution of vegetable food, all are 
stored up in the mouth and the sides of the 
of cheeks, and are only disengaged by the process 
chewing, all vegetable food should be chewed slowly, 
and with great deliberation, however finely cut up 
in the beginning. 

In order to fortify the reason and convince the 
judgment of the reader that fresh meats are more 
easily assimilated to the blood than vegetables, the 
reason is here given and is found in the fact, that 
the ultimate principles of nutrition in food are 
found in the metals of the earth, its lime and iron, 
and others ; that the first step in the process of 
conversion, is the digestion, the dissolution, the 
chemical disintegration of the lime and the iron 
and other constituents of the soil, which is perform- 
ed by the continued action of the water in the soil 
and the juices of the vegetable ; they dissolve the 
metals as the gastric juice dissolves meat. After 
the separation of their elements into gaseous and 



190 DYSPEPSIA. 

As the disease is weakness of stomach, inability, 
want of strength to perform its work properly, the 
first step is that which should be taken with an 
over-worked man ; give him less to do, give him 
easier work ; work which can be done in a shorter 
time, thus affording longer periods of rest, repose, 
and sleep, and this is done in reference to the 
stomach by giving it 

Regular work ; 

Easy work ; 

Plain work ; 

Eegular work by eating at stated hours and no 
other; 

Easy work by using food which is known to be 
digested with rapidity and facility. 

Plain work, by taking but a few articles at any 
one regular meal, and such as are more nearly 
allied to the nature of blood, as fresh meats ; and 
those which have a tendency to purify the blood, as 
fruits and berries in their ripe, natural, and raw 
states, taken before meals, so that their grateful 
and health-giving juices may be absorbed into the 
circulation, in their purity and healthfuiness, with- 
out admixture of other things ; and the whole 
grain of cereals, whether oats, corn, wheat, rye, or 
barley, so as to serve those mineral constituents, 



FRESH MEATS. 19 1 

which are so necessary to give strength to the bones, 
vigor to the muscles, and life to the blood. 

In using fresh meats, care is to be given in cut- 
ting them up in pea-sized pieces, so that they may 
be more speedily dissolved by the gastric juices ; 
but inasmuch as the fluids which are essential to 
the proper dissolution of vegetable food, all are 
stored up in the mouth and the sides of the 
of cheeks, and are only disengaged by the process 
chewing, all vegetable food should be chewed slowly, 
and with great deliberation, however finely cut up 
in the beginning. 

In order to fortify the reason and convince the 
judgment of the reader that fresh meats are more 
easily assimilated to the blood than vegetables, the 
reason is here given and is found in the fact, that 
the ultimate principles of nutrition in food are 
found in the metals of the earth, its lime and iron, 
and others ; that the first step in the process of 
conversion, is the digestion, the dissolution, the 
chemical disintegration of the lime and the iron 
and other constituents of the soil, which is perform- 
ed by the continued action of the water in the soil 
and the juices of the vegetable ; they dissolve the 
metals as the gastric juice dissolves meat. After 
the separation of their elements into gaseous and 



192 DYSPEPSIA. 

fluid forms the vegetable takes them" into itself, 
appropriates them into its own substance ; and hav- 
ing performed a work, the decomposition of a metal 
which no animal stomach could do, this vegetable 
in the shape of grass and hay and oats and corn 
and the like is eaten by the sturdy ox, whose 
strong stomach again separates the constituent 
parts, and then appropriates them to the making 
of its own flesh and blood, coming upon our tables 
in the form of sweet beef, so nearly allied to our 
own flesh and blood that it is easily converted 
into the same, so that the very iron and lime which 
first gave nourishment and life and growth to the 
plant are introduced in modified forms into the 
animal, to give it a higher life through the opera- 
tion of its powerful alembics, to be in turn 
transferred into the stomach of man, to build up 
his strength, to feed his brain a still higher form 
of life ; as much higher and nobler as the life of the 
strong ox and the beautiful bird is higher and 
nobler than that of the grass of the field, or the tree 
of the forest. 

Different kinds of food are composed of different 
elements, in varying proportions, all of which are 
needed by the body ; if any one or two kinds are 
eaten for a long time, except the few which con- 



CRAVING APPETITE. 193 

tain all the elements of human nutrition, as bread 
and milk, and, perhaps, one or two others, the sys- 
tem becomes fully supplied with the particular 
element, and instinct, that mysterious and wonder- 
ful agent of divinity, comes to the rescue and takes 
away the appetite for it. We express the idea by 
exclaiming, "We are 



An illustration : A British nobleman had a trusty 
and highly valued coachman who had lived with 
him many years, and had always seemed not only 
satisfied with his position, but proud of it. One day, 
however, he appeared before his master, and made 
the announcement that he wished to change and 
go elsewhere. The nobleman quietly asked him 
the reason for wishing to leave him. He replied, 
that the family always had abundance of roast tur- 
key on the table, and the servants never had any. 
" Is that all, John ? you shall have all the roast 
turkey you want," and calling the cook, gave orders 
to give John roast turkey three times every day 
until further orders, and nothing else but roast 
turkey, and John was happy. It was not long be- 
fore the coachman called upon his master with a 
rueful countenance, and very humbly, and even 



19S DYSPEPSIA. 

an important point will be gained in any given 
case by avoiding sameness of diet in any two succes- 
sive meals. 

THE FOOD CURE. 

It will be often found that however palatable and 
digestible a particular kind of food may be, the time 
will come when the patient will lose his relish for 
it, will get tired of it, and if persisted in, nature 
will send an imperative message in the way of a 
symptom, weight, or nausea, or heaviness, or acid- 
ity, or an unconquerable aversion to that particular 
article; hence, on the first indication in any of 
these ways, that the system is fully supplied with 
a particular element, some other article of food 
should be selected, the general rule being, never 
eat any thing for which there is not a relish ; al- 
though it does not follow, that every thing relished 
should be eaten, because it may not be digestible, 
may not 

AGREE WITH THE STOMACH; 

that more or less of discomfort will follow its use 
as food, and that in a very short time, sometimes, 
in ten or fifteen minutes. The stomach may grow 
tired of even so luscious an article as a bunch of 
fresh, ripe grapes ; ■ when that is the case, take some 



DIETING THE STOMACH. 197 

other kind of fruit for a few days or a week or two ; 
or it may be the same with oatmeal, stirabout, or 
wheaten grits, or even fresh roast beef, or porter 
house steak, or mutton chops, and even poultry 
may become distasteful and clog on the stomach ; 
then, by all means, change to something else. 

As persons are getting better of their dyspepsia 
in the use of the few articles proposed, there is a 
very natural desire for something else, something 
new and more inviting ; this desire may be grati- 
fied, yet it will happen sometimes that this new 
article, although very much relished, does not seem 
to agree with the stomach, and occasions discomfort, 
but do not discard it altogether ; for having been 
very much liked, too much may have been eaten, 
so take less the next meal, and the next, and often 
it will be found that a small amount is well taken 
care of, when a larger was injurious. But at any 
time when the steady improvement is interfered 
with, under a particular line of diet, go back to 
first principles, to the grapes and the porridge, 
thus being constantly on the watch ; exercising a 
good judgment and a close observation, with a 
reasonable amount of self denial and moral courage, 
ultimate and complete success may be calculated 
upon, in a very great majority of cases, and even 



193 DYSPEPSIA. 

in cases of failure the modification of suffering will 
abundantly compensate for any trouble in carrying 
out the general plan of treatment, 

DEINKING AT MEALS 

was stated to be injurious to the dyspeptic, because 
by diluting the gastric juice it weakened its power 
for dissolving the food, but also because persons 
would eat less and the process of digestion would 
be instantaneously arrested, if the fluid were cold. 
But there are times when a cup of hot tea of any 
kind would be very benefical, as when sitting down 
to a meal in a tired or chilly condition. Many dys- 
peptics find that cold water does not agree with 
them, that a cup of tea sours on the stomach, and 
yet they may be distressingly thirsty, and if they 
drink much of anything it 

"bloats them up." 

Under such circumstances the thirst is completely 
satisfied by chewing lumps of ice freely and swal- 
lowing them in as large bits as practicable. This is 
the best method in cases of fever ; and safer far, when 
persons are in perfect health, than a large and 
hurried drink of cold water. A while ago reference 
was made to the fact that six or seven pounds of 



DRINKING AT MEALS. 199 

food and drink were taken into the stomach every 
twenty-four hours on an average — of which three- 
fourths in weight and bulk are water; for a large part 
of the solid food is but water, one third of bread is 
water, three-fourths of roast beef are water, four- 
fifths offish are water, more than nine-tenths of cab- 
bage, turnips, and fruits are water. It is the water 
which lubricates all the joints of the body to make 
them work smoothly ; it is the water which enables 
the five hundred muscles of the body which are in 
constant friction with each other, to perform their 
various offices with comfort to ourselves ; without 
its lubricating influences every step taken would be 
in agony — witness the tortures of rheumatism. We 
could not even wink the eye without pain, if there 
was no bland fluid covering the eye-ball always, to 
enable the eye-lash to move over it with facility. 
But the dyspeptic gets enough of this with the food 
he eats, and in satisfying the thirst between meals 
without taking it as it comes from the spring or in 
the form of teas while eating ; although, as has 
been already stated, it is better to drink something 
hot at meals, if the person is chilly, or very tired, 
to warm the blood, wake up the circulation and 
refresh the system generally. Persons attribute 
this refreshment to the teas of China, black, green, 



200 DYSPEPSIA. 

&c, and they do have a stimulating effect ; at the 
same time it is the fact that the fluid drank is hot; 
which to a considerable extent, at least, imparts vi- 
vacity to the tired body. But in ordinary life in 
health, and more especially in disease, and par- 
ticularly in dyspepsia, it would be far better to adopt 
the method of good French nurses, who rely great- 
ly on 

PTISANS, 

which are teas made of very many garden herbs, 
sage, thyme, and others, or sassafras, and the 
barks and roots of many things which grow in the 
gardens, fields, and forest ; for all these have a taste 
which gives them a relish, and makes it possible to 
drink considerable quantities with comfort. Hot 
water itself would answer a good purpose as far 
as its warming influences extend, but the drinking 
it is unpalatable and even nauseating. 

We are so familar with tea, black and green, 
that it is generally thought that nothing could be 
safer for the dyspeptic — that tea and toast, for ex- 
ample, make one of the mildest repasts in nature, 
but most dyspeptics will be kept awake half the 
night on a supper of 



AVOID EXPERIMENTS. 2C 1 



TEA AND TOAST, 



however nicely made. Toasted bread, as general* 
ly placed on our tables, is very indigestible, and tea, 
in very many cases of dyspepsia, even a few sips 
of it, makes the stomach acid ; hence it is well to 
discard it altogether ; make no experiments with it, 
or coffee either, but when a hot drink is needed at 
meals, or between them — when there is much 
thirst — the plain 

HERB TEA 

of our foremothers is a delightful and Valuable 
drink for all sickly and weakly persons, especially 
the dyspeptic. 

The uses of water in the system are indispensable, 
and the dyspeptic should fully understand its im- 
portance in furthering his restoration to good 
health in connection with perspiration and exercise. 
It is the perspiration which keeps the skin soft and 
prevents fever by carrying off its extra heat. 
Hence when the skin is dry it is apt to be hot. 
Under such circumstances no one can feel well ; 
hence perspiration should be invited by moderate 
exercise in the open air. It is not important, nor 
is it desirable, that this exercise should be taken to 
13 



202 DYSPEPSIA. 

the extent of causing what we term sweating, 
where drops are seen on the surface. The more 
healthful form is termed by physicians 

INSENSIBLE PERSPIRATION, 

not visible to the senses, just enough to keep the 
skin soft, which prevents the heat in fever and the 
harshness, the 

GOOSE FLESH 

in cold or chilliness ; hence, whether in winter or 
summer, exercise or work, to the extent of keeping 
the skin soft and moist, like that of 

A BABY, 

for several hours every day in the open air, will be 
of incalculable benefit to every person suffering 
from dyspepsia; and all such should feel that a day 
has been lost which has been allowed to pass with- 
out exercise in the open air sufficient to cause a 
little moisture on the surface. And just here 
comes in 

THE GRAPE CURE, 

as practised among the thoughtful German phy- 
sicians ; and there is an amount of wisdom in it 
which will afford an intelligent dyspeptic food for 
instruction and amusement as well. 



THE GRAPE CURE. 203 

Physicians on the continent are averse to giving 
rredicine ; they greatly prefer 

GOOD NURSING. 

They use, as before stated, herb teas and fricCons 
and fomentations and out door exercise and 
mental diversion and change, and these last three 
are especially brought into requisition in carrying 
out the grape cure. These establishments are 
patronized by the nobility, and persons of wealth 
and leisure, who have nothing much to do, except to 
eat and drink, and the most of whose ailments are 
connected with 

PLETHORA. 

They have an over-fulness of blood, in consequence 
of eating too much and exercising too little, re- 
sulting in a feeble circulation and a general dul- 
ness of feeling, which they seek to overcome by 
drinking wine and beer, which in the end serve to 
aggravate and fix the very ailments and discomforts 
which they were taken to overcome or remove. In 
going to their gardens and places of amusement 
and public resort, the exclamation comes to the 
lips of an American, why they do nothing but drink 
— the Scotchman his whisky, the English their 
gin ; the French revel in their wine, while all Ger- 



204? DYSPEPSIA, 

mans glory in beer, which they can, sitting around 
a table, drink and enjoy ail day and all night, un- 
til the system becomes deranged in every part of it, 
and then they hie off to some 

"cure " 

in Switzerland or Germany. There are the 

MOLKEN CURE 

of quaint and delightful old Heidelbergh ; the 
bath cures of the warm springs ; the mud cure, 
where persons loll for hours in mud, only their 
chins above it; but the grape cure is becoming 
more and more the favorite, as it is 

EASY TO TAKE, 

and the medicine does not cost much, four or five 
cents a pound and even less. The general method is 
as follows : In the first place the situation is select- 
ed which is as near 

A PARADISE 

as possible, as far as scenery is concerned — moun- 
tain and lake, river and plain, field and forest, 
with their splendid drives and lonely, shaded walks, 
in the valley, up the mountain sides, over the plain 



THE GRAPE CUKE. ' 205 

and through the forest, with cosy seats, under 
shady trees, for rest and conversation, or at a 
bubling spring, or beside a quiet lake, or ripl- 
ling rivulet, or along the public promenade. All 
this is to secure pure air, and present every in- 
ducement possible to invite the invalid out of the 
house. If not by these, there are facilities for boat- 
ing and rowing, for rides and drives, on some new 
road, for every day in the month. This gives variety 
and prevents the mind from stagnation. With these 
advantages comes the grape cure, which begins 
by taking a quarter or a half pound before the re- 
gular meals, gradually increasing the amount. But 
these grapes are to be taken, not sitting down at a 
splendidly appointed table — nor is a whole bunch 
to be swallowed at once, as the average American 
would do, to 

GET THROUGH WITH IT ; 

nor must he have them sent up to his solitary 
chamber, to be devoured in 

SILENCE, ENNUI AND SOLITUDE. 

^ -~ essential that they be eaten out of doors, and, 
if pospible, in the sunshine, with all its brightning 
influences. 



206 DYSPErSIA. 

Nor are the grapes to be eaten while sitting in a 
chair with elevated feet, nor while lounging on a 
sofa. The man must eat them while walking, not 
with solitary steps and slow. He must have some 
one to talk and laugh with, to make remarks, to 
get up a dispute, and wake up the mind. Besides 
all this, it is not thought to be of special advantage 
to eat a peck in five minutes ; one grape is to be 
picked from the bunch and carried to the mouth at 
a time, not to be swallowed whole, for then it would 
not be tasted. It is important to invite out the 
various juices of the mouth by deliberate chewing, 
go that by mingling them with the substance of the 
grape a rapid digestion is promoted, and the 
essence of the grape, with its 

VAKIOUS VIRTUES, 

is conveyed at once into the circulation. It is an 
injunction not to come home until all the grapes 
are eaten, the result being that by the time a pound 
or so of grapes are eaten, and only one at once, a 
pretty long walk and a pretty good exposure to out 
door air and the cheery sunshine has been secur- 
ed, and this three times a day, in lively company 
and 



CHANGE OF SCENERY BENEFICIAL. £07 

DELIGHTFUL SUKROUNDINGS. 

But with wonderful unselfishness, the doctor ad- 
vises, although you have been paying pretty well 
for his advise and for splendid tables spread with 
costly viands and luxurious beds; he comes to you 
at the end of two or three weeks or a month, and 
says you had better leave ! Not that your are 
cured perfectly, not that he is tired of you,* but that 
there are peculiar advantages at another " cure," 
not to be found at his, a kind of supplemental 
necessity for winding up the whole business. The 
real object being, that inasmuch as you have seen 
everything that is to be seen at his establishment, 
you must not be allowed to fall into indifference, 
listlessness and 

ENNUI, 

but go to some other place where everything is 
new ; new fields, new scenery, new associations ; 
and thus is an army of invalids and dyspeptics 
kept wandering around from pillar to post all sum- 
mer, and in the autumn they return home well, 
from constant out door exposure to the open air 
involving a large amount of muscular activities and 
mental exhileration. Double that amount of ex- 
ercise, double that amount of exposure to the sun- 



208 DYSPEPSIA. 

shine, and breathing the delicious pure air would 
not have done one tenth part of the good if brought 
about by riding or walking any number of miles to 
a post, and then turning around to come back 
again ; vain Americans would rather have a dozen 
dyspepsias than 

ENDURE THAT BORE, 

the bore of an unending routine, of an insufferable 
sameness. 

It is said to be a poor rule which does not work 
both ways ; you have been cured, and the grape 
cure doctor has been paid ; you have paid him for 
tho grapes and you have paid him for his 

SPLENDID TABLE, 

richly spread with costly viands, what there was of 
them ; the game, the pastries, the viands, and 
the wines; but it has not perhaps occurred to 
most astute readers, up to this time, that as costly 
as was the table spread you ate little or nothing of 
it, and that some tables would last a year, because 
you had been so completly stuffed with grapes by 
the time you had taken a pound or two or three 
that there was not a particle of room for any- 
thing else, and all that you did day after day, 



EADICAL CURE. 209 

on sitting down to the regular meals, was to 
nibble at this, that and the other, all the while 
counting the minutes, or scanning the clock, for 
the time to come, when it would be polite to get up 
and go away. As for your leaving the establish- " 
ment and go elsewhere, it was no loss to the land- 
lord, for some brother doctor had already sent some 
one from his place to fill your vacancy. 

But there is wisdom and good management and 
a careful consideration of your best interests in all 
this ; especially in the case of a dyspeptic, who al- 
ways eats too much of solid food, and although 
always eating, is always hungry and never gets 
enough, because so much was put into the stomach 
that it could not be digested, but in the case of 
grapes, however full the stomach might be, nine- 
tenths was water and the other tenth was worked 
up in healthful nutriment, making a pure blood, 
giving substantial strength and thus laying the 
foundation for a radical cure. 

But the reader should not cease to remember his 
obligation to his physician in making his 

CURE EASY. 

The dyspeptic has an insatiable appetite, the 
torment of a sense of hunger being almost always 



210 DYSPEPSIA. 

present, but the stomach being filled with grape3, 
the sense of hunger was stayed by what -physi- 
cians call the " stimulus of distension/* brought 
about by eating six, eight or ten pounds of grapes 
a day, a feat which is [frequently performed by 
enthuiastic experiments in the grape cure. 

OATMEAL DIET. 

As an encouragement to the dyspeptic to culti- 
vate an appetite, and taste, and relish for oatmeal 
porridge, as a means of giving strength to bone and 
developement to muscle, and as has been previously 
stated, durability and beauty to the teeth, and 
consequent efficiency to the comminution of food as 
a means of preparing it for a more easy digestion, 
it will be well to bear in mind that the highest 
modern authority, Liebig, has shown that oatmeal 
is almost as nutritious as the very best English 
beef, and that it is richer than wheaten bread in 
the elements that go to form bone and muscle. 
Prof. Forbes, of Edinburgh, during some twenty 
years, measured the breath and height, and also 
tested the strength of both the arms and limbs of 
the students in the university — a very numerous 
class, and of various nationalities, drawn to Edin- 



OATMEAL DIET. 211 

burgh by the fame of his teaching. He found that 
in height, breadth of chest and shoulders, and 
strength of arms and lions, the Belgians were at 
the bottom of the list;* a little above them, the 
French ; very much higher, the English ; and 
highest of all, the Scotch, and Scotch-Irish from 
Ulster, who, like the natives of Scotland, are fed in 
their early years with at least one meal a day of 
good oatmeal porridge. Speaking of oatmeal, an 
exchange remarks that a very good drink is made 
by putting about two spoonfuls of the meal into a 
tumbler of water. The Western hunters and trap- 
pers consider it the best of drinks, as it is at once 
nourishing, unstimulating, and satisfying. It is 
also known that such a draught after dressing in the 
morning, if persisted in, has an admirable efficacy 
in many cases in overcoming a tendency to an 
unnaturally slow movement of the bowels, and 
often overcomes costiveness : thus not only impart- 
ing substantial nourishment to the system, but 
removing the necessitj 7 of employing medicine as an 
agent in that direction. The next best substitute 
is wheaten grits ; in either case, breakfast should 
be made of these articles alone, with an occasional 
tea-cup of milk, fresh, sweet, and warmed, not 
boiled, lor that process seems to deprive it of some 



212 DYSPEPSIA. 

of its valuable natural qualities, and makes it less 
easy of digestion to the adult stomach. Milk, fresh 
and warm, is the natural food of the infant, its 
stomach is adapted to it, ^nd will digest it with 
rapidity, but that it is not a natural aliment for 
persons who are older may be inferred from the 
fact that nature dries Up the fountain before a year 
in animals and before two years in women, and 
that it is not healthful, at least to those who are 
not haid workers, as mechanics and out-door labor- 
ers, every innated or sedentary person may prize to 
his fullest satisfaction, and using rich, fresh sweet 
sweet milk ireely at each meal for a very few days. 
It is a frequent and voluntary observation of per- 
sons seeking medical advice, " Milk does not agree 
with me." On making more minute inquiries as to 
the meaning, reply is made, " It makes me bilious/ ' 
"It makes me costive." "It gives me the head- 
ache." " It sours on my stomach." 

At the same time, it may be true, as has been 
recently claimed for milk, and what has been 
already referred to, that it has valuable seminal 
qualities; and this seems to have been confirmed 
by high medical authority. Brides, there may be 
peculiarities and combinations in a giveii case which 
an article of food m!ght remedy, but which, in nine 



OATMEAL DIET. 213 

cases out of ten others, would aggravate the dys- 
jjeptic. For example, a case is given of a lady who 
drank a tumbler of fresh, sweet milk whenever she 
experienced a burning sensation in the stomach ; 
but if, in any case, this " milk cure " becomes a 
habitual thing, it is quite apparent that it is only 
an alleviant, eradicates nothing, hence is 

WORSE THAN WORTHLESS. 

Another case is given of an elderly gentleman who 
had been afflicted for many years with great 

DISTRESS AFTER EATING, 
but cured himself by drinking half a glass of water, 
into which had been stirred a teaspoonful of wheat 
bran, half-an-hour after each meal. This was a 
case of dyspepsia, most likely, which was caused 
by a constipated condition of the bowels, which 
has often been cured by drinking bran and water. 

BEEF TEA, 

in some cases, will rest well on the stomach of a 
dyspeptic. A good substitute and a better nutri- 
ment is found in preparing 

RAW MEAT 

as follows : Beat it into a pulp, add a little boiling 
water to this, and shake or stir it well in an ordi- 



214 DYSPEPSIA. 

nary bowl or wide-mouthed bottle ; make it thicker 
or thinner, and season it to suit the taste, with 
pepper, salt, sugar, or whatever makes it most 
palatable. A whole meal may be made of this, 
with dry, stale bread ; sometimes a teaspoonful or 
two of cider vinegar, or half a lemon, taken after 
each meal, improves the digestion of this raw meat. 
This raw meat pulp is best suited to cases where 
there is little or no appetite, or even an aversion to 
food, amounting even to loathing. Most persons 
prefer this to 

liebig's beef tea, 

while it is incomparably more nutritious, hence 
gives more strength, because it contains all the 
substance of the meat, more or less of which is lost 
in any kind of cooking. 



THE REST CURE. 

The fundamental ideas in the successive treat- 
ment of dyspeptics is that the removal of its cause 
is its cure ; that it is brought on by over-work of 
the stomach, and that it must have rest as a means 
of gathering power to perform the function of di- 
gestion fully, naturally and well. Dr. James C. 
Jackson, the eminent and able hydropathist of 
Dansville, New York, thus presents the philosophy 
of the best cure, as applicable to many human 
maladies : — 

" There is nothing like Rest for the Weary ; ' 
and so many of our people as are workers either by 
body or brain, or both, are wearied. This is true 
3ven of £he children in our own country who are at 
school; truer still of the young men and women 
who are at college ; none the less true of those who 
having reached places and positions of business res- 
ponsibility are absorbed in the duties and cares of 
private life ; quite as true, and I am disposed to 
think truer, of all those women who as wives are 
additionally taxed by the cares and duties of mater- 
nity ; as true of all those men who, having to work 
with body, have also to work very closely and hard 
( 215 ) 



216 DYSPEPSIA. 

with their brains. From every pursuit and vocation 
in life, in every class of society, comes up this cry for 
rest, and because there is no such arrangement as 
to give rest to the body, to the mind, to the spirit, 
it is in large measure to be accounted for that there 
is so much sickness. It is very difficult to find a 
man or a woman who knows how to rest. They 
understand how to work, how to toil hard, how to 
expend power, how to bear cares and troubles, vex- 
ations, sorrows and disappointments ; many of 
them know how to bear poverty ; but they do not 
know how to re-gather strength and so recover from 
their tiredness of body and weariness of spirit. 
They have notions as to what they need ; plans 
which having cherished, they try to carry out ; but 
in almost every case the plans or projects thus 
adopted and sought to be enforced involve* no such 
conditions or circumstances as afford rest. At best 
they contemplate and secure only change of labour. 
Herein lies the fallacy of the courses adopted ; and 
hereby is to be accounted the failure which so uni- 
formly characterizes their plans. 

" Nature demands of all living organisms, in order, 
first, that they may be healthy or keep free from 
sickness ; second, that they may develop naturally 
and to their maximum point of growth — periods of 



THE REST CURE. 217 

absolute suspension of voluntary effort. He who 
does not understand this and take into account the 
peculiarities of his organization as indicated by 
temperament, age, sex, habits of living, and quality 
of development, fails to comprehend the secret of 
maintaining health, perserving life and reaching 
such condition of character as the Creator clearly 
designs that every man should do. 

" THE PHILOSOPHY OF REST. 

" Consider the philosophy of rest. It is an ad- 
mitted axiom amongst scientific men, that in order 
to the conservation of force and the maintenance of 
equilibrium, action and reaction should be equal. 
If this be so, then where action has been had in 
such a way as to expend force, the agent or instru- 
ments, the organ or organs, made the medium of 
such expenditure, become fatigued or tired thereby, 
and so need periods of suspension of activity or 
what I call rest. This is true of every organ or 
texture in the human body. Whoever is, through 
any pursuit, avocation or profession, putting his 
body in any of its parts, or as a whole, to task, in 
order to accomplish the objects before him, will 
find it necessary to the maintenance of his health, 

or if bis liealth be lost, to the restoration thereof, 
14 



218 DYSPEPSIA. 

to give such organs in his system as by his busi- 
ness or profession are especially taxed, regular and 
habitual periods of repose. Illustrate this as one 
pleases, there is no escaping from the correctness 
of it. Does a man think as a profession? He 
must give himself regular periods of suspension 
from thought. It makes no difference in what 
direction the thought goes ; that portion of the 
nervous system which is involved in action for the 
purpose of thought, must rest. Does he work with 
his muscles for a livelihood ? he must rest. Does 
he subject his bones and sinews to great strain like 
a bow bent, for a time ? these must be relieved 
from that strain. Does he subject his heart, lungs, 
stomach and bowels to taxation ? he must give 
them rest. None of his organs can be relieved 
from this great law. 

"SICKNESS THE RESULT OF OVER-STRAIN 

"In my opinion, sickness, however varied in 
aspect or complex in manifestation, is oftener than 
otherwise the result of over-strain ; not imposed all 
at once, but strain long-continued— without inter- 
vals of relief — without competency of will on the 
part of the persons thus made sick, to take off such 
strain and so give the part under ^pressure and 



SICKNESS THE RESULT OF OVER-STRAIN. 219 

heavy labor time to recover by and through the 
action of the law or laws whose special function it 
is to repair and make good again the over-taxed 
and over- wrought organ. What do our thinking 
men know of methods whereby, under an action of 
the will, they may empty their brains of any and 
all classes of impressions, making them as uncon- 
scious of any sensible, well-arranged, profitable 
thought as a gourd shell is ? Where one can be 
found who, being an educated thinker, can stop 
thinking, ten thousand can be found who, being 
habituated to thought, have no power to cease 
thinking. If they do not think, it must be because 
they are stupefied by drugs and a sort of anesthesia 
of the system is induced ; otherwise, though they 
may be asleep, they think. Imagination is at 
work, and she carries their consciousness wherever 
fancy may float or fantasy may exhibit itself. Al- 
most all our thinking men and women go out of 
their ordinary states of material life to dwell, dur- 
ing their sleeping hours, in dream land. Pictures 
of beauty beyond conception under ordinary con- 
sciousness are presented to cheir spiritual percep- 
tions, and at times they dwell where both country 
and people are extremely beautiful. At such times 
existence becomes not merely a fact, but a state of 



220 DYSPEPSIA. 

high enjoyment — a condition of supremest pleasure. 
Out of such idealisms they come on waking up, to 
feel how much power has gone out of them, leaving 
them to take up the drudgery of life under great 
distaste. If they do not thus live in supersensuous- 
ness when sleeping they are introduced to conditions 
of ideal life quite the converse ; misery, wretched- 
ness, discord, jealousy, hate, come out of the 
darkness and mingle themselves up with their pro- 
cesses of thought. Oblivious sleeping is not a 
characteristic of the American people. Work, work, 
work, is forever before us, and it is greatly to our 
disadvantage that it is so. I do not think that our 
people work too many hours, considered in their 
sum total ; they only do their work in such un- 
philosophical and unphysiological ways as not to 
give their organizations time for rest, and so for the 
preservation of balance. They do things without 
any reference to law, and because they thus do, 
they suffer punishment. 

"disregard of physical laws. 

" Lawlessness may be as much a sin when con- 
sidered with reference to the maintenance and pro- 
longation of life, as it is with reference to any of 
the social relations. I may not invade my neigh- 



DISREGARD OF PHYSICAL LAWS. Z'Zl 

bor's precincts without committing offence. This 
everybody understands. I may not disobey or dis- 
regard the laws of my own organization without 
committing a mistake. This scarcely anybody un- 
derstands. No less work need be done, but, on 
the other hand, more than is now done by nearly 
all who are workers, whatever the nature of the 
work, might be done if they would secure to them- 
selves regular periods of relaxation and re-organiza- 
tion. Your poverty-cursed man who cannot get 
ahead, would be a better man, a better citizen, a 
better head of the family, make more money, both 
bv earning and saving, if as a manual laborer he 
did not work more than eight hours a day. The 
entire relations of the organic or creative force and 
the functional or expending force within him, would 
be better established and productive of better re- 
sults, if he worked but eight hours a day, than it 
can be possible for them to be if he works twelve 
or eighteen. Probably more than one half of the 
sicknesses which arise with our laboring population 
grow out of too long continued work without inter- 
vals of repose. 

" ALL CLASSES AFFECTED. 

" If this view be true of the class of our people 
whose bones and muscles play a main part in fur- 



222 DYSPErSIA. 

nishing means of subsistence, it is truer of that 
class of our people whose brains and nerves are 
mainly taxed for their subsistence. How intelli- 
gent gentlemen can rest under the delusion that 
long-continued intellectual application is good for 
children — that six hours a day is better for them 
than three — that to be free from the exercise of the 
mental faculties specifically applied and to have 
substituted therefor play of the muscles tends to 
fix in their young minds immoral ideas and im- 
pressions, is strange to me. How a minister of the 
gospel can be so forced one side of the true line of 
rational philosophy with reference to the growth in 
him of large affections and spiritual perceptions as 
to feel that preaching twice or three times a day on 
the Sabbath is conducive thereto, is surprising to 
me. How christian people can be under such an 
illusion as to believe that long-continued uninter- 
rupted exercise of the emotional faculties can be 
made productive of growth in grace, or of a right 
obtainment of the knowledge of God, astonishes 
me. How the speculator who calculates to make 
money by understanding the laws of the relation of 
producer and consumer, or who is shrewd to guess 
out those chances or changes which come out of a 
large and widely extended combination of influences, 



CAUSES OF FAILURE. 223 

can lead himself to think that his reason and judg- 
ment are better at four o'clock P.M. than they are 
at ten o'clock A.M., is marvellous to me. How 
any lawyer, doctor, artist, teacher of youth, mecha- 
nic, inventor, metaphysician, can imagine that he 
is better qualified to take in, under thought, tho 
relation of things in respect to adaptation, to 
separate or mutual use, after he has worked s^ 
hours and stuffed stomach full of roast beef and 
plum pudding, goes altogether beyond my power of 
conception. 

" CAUSES OF FAILURE. 

" The truth is that a large proportion of the failures 
in health, failures in business, and in social life, in 
public life, in religious growth, in power to under- 
stand human nature, in capacity for application, are 
caused by, or are dependent upon, such conditions 
of the bodily organism as are consequent upon 
want of rest. It is not the amount of work done, 
constituting over-work, of which I complain and 
to which is to be attributed these deplorable results. 
It is the way, the habit, the manner or method 
through or by which such work is done. It is be- 
cause persons do not recognize and cheerfully fol- 
low the indications of nature in this matter of rest. 



224 DYSPEPSIA. 

Will our people never learn to appreciate this 
view ? If they will, two beneficial results will be 
seen: first, those who are not sick will keep from 
getting sick : second, those who have been made 
sick before learning it, after they have been taught 
it and have come to appreciate it, will get well. 

I believe that of all the sick persons in this 
country, wherever located, ninety-five in each 
hundred might just as well get well as die, and 
of all who are not sick, ninety-five might just as 
well as not keep from getting sick, if they only 
knew how ; and of all knowledge which can be ob- 
tained, conducive to this end, none would be of 
more avail than this of knowing how to procure 
thorough rest. 

" THE BENEFITS OF REST. 

" Give the brain rest. Give the five senses rest. 
Give the lungs rest. Especially give the stcmiach 
rest. Give the propensities rest. Give the heart 
rest. Give the bones and the muscles and the sin- 
ews rest. Give the mind rest. Say to the spirit, 
' Eest, perturbed spirit, rest.' The law of inaction 
is as truly a law of life as the law of action. Will 
not the reader consider this, and have systematized 
and established plans, whereby in every twenty- 



THE BENEFITS OF REST. 225 

four hours there shall be well-adjusted, thoroughly 
arranged, periods of absolute rest, the life force 
doing just as little work as it is possible for it to do 
in the physical domain, while the functions of life 
are healthfully carried on. If parents having 
feeble children, husbands having feeble wives, wives 
having sick or delicate husbands ; if teachers who 
are sick, ministers who are out of health, business 
men who are ailing ; if persons who have been long 
sick, have taken medicine in large quantities and 
consulted many physicians and have grown no bet- 
ter, but have rather grown worse ; if scrofulous per- 
sons, persons suffering from bilious complaints, 
consumptive people, rheumatic persons ; if those 
who have the sick-headache; if women suffering 
from local weaknesses ; if drunkards, dyspeptics, 
gluttons, and the like, will only take up this idea 
of rest and give it consideration and proper esti- 
mation in their minds as of therapeutic value ; if, 
after having thus conceived and considered it, they 
will place themselves in relation to its application 
where it can be practically enforced, they will see 
marvels in the way of beneficial results, rousing 
the deepest interest in the minds of all observers. 
Rest-cure is the great cure. The sick get well by 
getting their vital forces to act normally. Normal 



226 DYSPEPSIA. 

action, when applied to persons in health, is a pre- 
servative ; normal action, when applied to persons 
sick, is a curative. Suspension of activity as well 
as expression of activity, is a part of the law of 
normality. Let this be taken into account, and 
where, by a long series of unbroken efforts in the 
way of expenditure of vitality, sickness has been 
induced, let the sick one turn his face towards a 
consideration of and a belief in the value of the law 
of rest. If he does so and is curable by any methods 
under the sun, the application of this principle will 
cure him. The principle is capable of very com- 
prehensive and varied combinations. Eest of the 
bones and muscles renders rest of the nerves pos- 
sible ; rest of both of these renders rest of the 
stomach possible ; rest thus added to these renders 
rest of liver and other functional parts possible ; 
rest of all these renders rest of the brain possible ; 
rest of this renders rest of the mind possible. So 
the whole man rests, and as he rests so he recreat- 
es. Sickness which results from the perversion of 
activity or over-activity begins to be abolished when 
he begins to rest. Eest long enough and restora- 
tion is the result ; and once cured on this principle 
there is no sense and therefore no necessity in one's 
thereafter becoming sick." 



PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES. 227 



AVOIDABLE THINGS IN DYSPEPSIA. 

Avoid cold feet. 

Avoid costive bowels. 

Avoid cooling off too soon, after all forms o 
exercise. 

Avoid fatigue ; always stop before you are much 
tired. 

Avoid chilliness. 

Avoid all tonics, stimulants, spirits, bitters, 
tobacco, or any other excitant. 

Avoid eating before the time comes, merely to 
quiet the craving or gnawing of goneness. 

Avoid fats, sugars, sweet milk, eggs, and coffee ; 
you may favor yourself greatly by selecting your 
food. It may be well to begin on the " Special 
Fruit Diet," elsewhere spoken of. At all events 
you are safe in beginning with roasted beef or 
mutton, lean ; cracked wheat, or wheaten grits, or 
Graham bread, and good butter, with all you can 
eat of berries, cherries, currants, melons, grapes, 
and peaches and apples, after breakfast and dinner, 
as dessert, taking them in their natural, raw, ripe, 
perfect state; if not in the season, take them 
stewed or baked, but not preserved. 



228 DYSPEPSIA. 

It was not intended in this article to detail any 
curious cases or to waste space in long disquisitions 
but to present simply the main features of the dis- 
ease as presented in ninety-nine cases in a hun- 
dred, so as to reach the masses of the people. If 
compelled to state the certain cure of dyspepsia in 
three rules, they would be : 
Eat regularly thrice a day. 
Eat just as much as will not be followed by any 
discomfort. 

Spend from five to ten hours every day in inter" 
ested and profitable out-door activities. 

The almost universal cause of dyspepsia is error 
in eating ; the almost universal symptom is an un- 
pleasant reminder that there is a stomach ; the 
almost universal principle of cure is never to eat so 
much at any regular meal, of not less than five 
hours' interval, as will attract the attention un- 
pleasantly to any portion of the body. No method 
of cure ever succeeded which did not involve this 
principle, and when regarded, this alone will per- 
manently cure any curable case, without one atom 
of medicine of any kind, and the cure will be expe- 
dited in proportion as the time from after break- 
fast to sundown is expended in profitable, agreeable, 
and absorbing out-door activities. 



GENEEAL INSTEUCTIONS. 

The actual dyspeptic, as well as he who is recov- 
ering from this malady, will find that whatever 
instructions are necessary to the old, the young, 
the infirm, are especially applicable to his own case. 
He should remember that he is a tender plant, 
especially amenable to the injurious influences ol 
summer's heat and winter's cold, of excesses even 
in good things, and in addition, should be always on 
his guard against everything calculated to do him 
even a slight injury. 

Years before a person reaches sixty he is spoken 
of as an old man, but long after he has passed 
three score he does not admit that he is " old ;" he 
insists that he feels as well and strong as he ever 
did in his life, and, anon, begins to persuade himself 
that seventy is not a very old age ; while at thirty 
he felt a kind of pity for any one who should speak 
of his being over forty. It would be better for us 
partly to acknowledge at three score that we are 
among the old, and act accordingly. It can be 
easily proven by taking a long day's ride, or a 
hasty run up stairs, two or three steps at a stride. 
During November eighty-three persons died in New 
( 229 ) 



230 DYSPEPSIA. 

York city who were not over seventy years of age, 
a very much larger per-centage in proportion to 
numbers than among any other class except infants. 
The reason is that the old are so feeble and so 
frail, the delicate machinery is so nearly worn out, 
that the slightest causes derange, even if they do 
not destroy. This is proven by the fact that it is 
announced, of most of them, that they died sud- 
denly. This directs attention to the other fact that 
the cold of winter is perilous to old age ; but it 
would be much less so if a wise attention were 
given to a proper adaptation to the surroundings 
attendant upon the changed and changing condi- 
tions of the days and times and seasons. The fore- 
going and following are especially applicable to 
dyspeptics: 

The air of November is more bracing, more life- 
giving, because purer and drier than that of the 
early fall ; at the same time there is a searching 
rawness in the early morning and about sundown 
which is peculiarly trying to all who are not in 
vigorous health. Hence a safe rule for the old is 
never to leave the house in the morning until after 
a good hot breakfast, allowing time also for a little 
rest and a good warming after breakfast. Then 
make it a point to be snug at home, before a cheer- 



EXPOSURE TO THE COLD. 231 

ful, blazing fire, at least half an hour before sun- 
down. 

Exposure to the cold and chilly air without the 
conditions just named, more than counterbalances 
the bracing condition of a cooler temperature. 

Warmth is the heaven of three score-and-ten ; it 
gives life to the blood, activity to the circulation, 
and vigor to the whole frame. Cold chills the skin, 
closes the pores, shrivels the surface, and drives all 
the circulating fluids in upon the centres, notably 
the heart and lungs and brain, congesting, crowd- 
ing, over-straining their delicate machinery. Thus 
it is that so often the cords of life are snapped in a 
moment. The bowl is broken at the cistern and 
the wheel at the fountain, by pneumonia, heart 
disease, and apoplexy, with many times not the 
advantage of a moment's friendly warning. 

Warmth, abundant warmth, in the morning from 
a brightly burning flame in winter, adds largely to 
the comfort, health, and general well-being of the 
old, as well as of the infirm, invalids and children f 
hence it is poor economy, as well as hazardous, to 
defer building fire until late in the fall, and it is 
quite as injurious to put them out too early in the 
spring. 



232 DYSPEPSIA. 

In every well-regulated household there should 
be one room for common resort, in which a gener- 
ous fire should be brightly blazing on the hearth 
from early morning until bed-time, especially where 
there are old people and children, from the first of 
November until the middle of May, at least, north 
of Virginia. A portion of the time the fire may be 
allowed to go out during the middle of the day, 
but it should never fail to be kindled at sunrise and 
sunset, between the dates named. If there is an 
exceptionally warm day, still have the fire, but 
avoid the room if necessary ; for the warmth of a 
blazing fire in the early fall and late spring is 
known to antagonize certain baleful ingredients in 
the atmosphere those seasons and hours which are 
productive, if breathed, of a large class of ailments, 
such as diarrhoea, dysentery, and fever and ague. 
Of the various adaptations for such fires, whether 
from wood, coke, soft or hard coal, the Dizon sun- 
down grate seems to be the least troublesome and 
the most convenient and philosophical. 

The least observant have been conscious of a 
feeling of comfort, exhilaration, and life, on enter- 
ing an apartment on a cold day, where there is a 
brightly-blazing fire ; and as the old, with their 
waning hopes and wasting strength, so much need 



CLOTHING IN WINTER. 233 

whatever may tend to cheer and enliven them, 
those who love them most will do them the greatest 
service by contributing to their comfort in the dir- 
ections above alluded to. 

A warm room is better than a cold one, although 
it is made so by the dull, heavy, oppressive, stifl- 
ing heat of a register or of hot water, or hot-air 
pipes ; but these so signally fail to impart life to 
the blood and cheeriness to the spirits, that fami- 
lies would save by economizing in several other di- 
rections, rather than in the case in hand. 

CLOTHING IN WINTER. 

It is better and safer that dyspeptics as well as 
all old persons, should put on their winter clothing 
as early as the first of November, and begin to lay 
it aside by degrees in May. 

The invalid and the old should studiously and 

habitually watch against any feeling of chilliness 

for a single moment, as while sitting or standing 

still in damp weather, in a cold room or out of 

doors, which last proved the death of Washington. 

There is danger, also, in sitting still on horseback 

or in vehicles until the body is chilled through and 

through ; remaining still in damp clothing, lying 

between damp sheets, or going to bed in a chilly 
15 



234< DYSPEPSIA. 

condition, or with very cold feet, these have been 
often causes of inflammation of the lungs, because 
chilliness of the surface makes itself felt first in the 
lungs, causing pneumonia, which is always a tedi- 
ous disease, often dangerous, and not seldom fatal 
in a few days. 

If the reader will direct his attention to this 
point he will be surprised to find how many old 
persons are stated in the papers to have died of 
pneumonia, the scientific name for inflammation of 
the lungs. The circulation of the blood in the 
breathing organs is feeble in the old, and very 
slight causes increase that feebleness, but it is this 
circulation which generates the necessary warmth 
of the body, and if that is impended by any means 
pneumonia is a common result. 

DEATH FROM A DINNER. 

The dyspeptic can recall instances in his own 
experience of an uncomfortable chilliness after a 
good hearty dinner. That man was not far from 
death ! The fires of life are kindled in the lungs. 
The more fully they are supplied with blood the 
warmer is the body ; if they are scantily supplied 
chilliness follows, with dangerous symptoms in pro- 
portion to its degree. When the stomach is full 



champ colic. 235 

of food a large amount of blood must be sent there 
to enable it to carry on the process of digestion. 
If blood is not supplied there is weight at the 
stomach, 

CRAMP COLIC, 

and sometimes death. Hence there is a sleepless 
instinct on the part of nature to supply an extra 
amount of blood to the stomach after each meal. 
This extra quantity is taken from other parts of the 
body, but if too large an amount is taken from any 
portion derangement of its healthful operation is 
an instantaneous result. Hence if an old man, 
weary and tired at the close of the day, feels very 
hungry and eats heartily, the necessity of a large 
supply of blood to the stomach is so imperative 
that the lungs are robbed and the man dies before 
the morning of pneumonia, apoplexy, or heart dis- 
ease. It is, therefore, a great risk for any old per- 
son or dyspeptic to eat very heartily at any time. 
It is safer and better to eat four times a day so as 
never to be very hungry. Indeed, all persons 
should specially guard against indulging to the fulj 
at any time of day, especially if very hungry and 
very tired, and not over warm. 



236 DYSPEPSIA. 

CHANGE IN HABITS. 

The old, the feeble and dyspeptic should be slow 
to make any change in their daily habits, their 
calling, or their places of living, for all these, all 
that is new to them, makes drafts upon their re- 
serves of strength, and they have none to spare. A 
man in vigorous health can more easily walk along 
an accustomed road than a new one, especially if 
he has to find his own way. On the same princi- 
ple the older we are the more discomposing it is to 
sleep in a new place, a new house, a new room, or 
a new bed ; hence all, after three score, should 
avoid as much as possible being from home for a 
single night. Some persons have a strong preju- 
dice against moving into a new house, from the fact 
that it has been so frequently observed that men 
who have built houses for themselves have died 
soon after taking possession. But it will be noted 
that almost all such are old people, whose death 
resulted mainly from such slight causes as un- 
seasoned wood-work, undried plastering, or the 
chambers being contaminated with the odor of 
paint, or freshly-papered walls. Persons in vigor- 
ous health are able to withstand these slight causes 
of disease, but the circulation of the old is so 



EXPERIMENTAL EATING. 237 

feeble, the delicate machinery of life is so nearly 
worn out, that the slightest strain often crushes it, 
and we pass away. 

EXPERIMENTAL EATING 

should be most carefully guarded against by dys- 
peptics. 

Many a man has eaten something which he 
knows has given him discomfort before, but he is 
" very fond of it," and hopes that in some way or 
other he may indulge with impunity this time. 
Others, again, are tempted to eat largely of a new 
dish, one which they had never tasted before, and 
being very savory they have partaken heartily. 
The dyspeptic should never make such experiments; 
it can never be done without danger. 

TAKING A NAP. 

After three score it is better to have a short 
sleep during the day, either in the forenoon, after a 
late dinner, or after supper. It should be taken on 
a sofa, or lounge, or m an armchair, not in bed, 
because that invites a regular long sleep, w r hich 
interferes with the rest of the night, and makes one 
dull the remainder of the day; while a nap not ex- 
ceeding twelve or fifteen minutes refreshes the body 



238 DYSPEPSIA. 

wonderfully, enlivens the spirits, and promotes 
social suavity and good nature generally. 

BLEEP ALL YOU CAN. 

Dyspeptics should get all the sleep and rest 
they can. They may not be able to sleep the 
night through and may not feel fully rested ; in 
fact, it seems to them as if they wanted more sleep, 
but they cannot get it. The next best thing is to 
rest in bed for an hour or more. This supplements 
sleep and gives time for nature to recuperate her 
energies. 

After three score, they will live the longest who 
sleep and rest the most and do the least, except in 
a quiet, composed, and uniform way. Hurry, haste, 
over-efforts of body or mind, extra excitement oi 
the emotions or intellectual faculties, or of the 
affections, are always dangerous to the old. 

PHILOSOPHY OF EXERCISE. 

It may aid the intelligent dyspeptic, in the 
practical use of his physical and intellectual strength 
to have a proper understanding about the principle, 
involved in all forms of exercise, originally written 
for the Christian Weekly : 

" Every one rises in the morning with a certain 
amount of physical strength, which has accumulated 



PHILOSOPHY OF EXERCISE. 239 

during the night in proportion to the amount of 
healthful sleep which has been obtained. To ex- 
pend that strength and no more during the day 
and to do it habitually, is the true philosophy of 
healthy living. If more is expended, that is, if 
the reserves are too largely drawn upon, there is 
depletion and friction, and wear and waste of bodily 
substance ; the man is too tired at night, and the 
exercise of the day has done him more harm than 
good. If too little of the strength has been ex- 
pended during the day, then the food eaten has not 
been fully digested ; the blood has not been perfectly 
made, the body has been insufficiently nourished, 
and the foundation for debility and disease has been 
laid. These are the general principles, indicating 
the great practical fact that the true system of work 
is to keep at it only until a little tired, and not con- 
tinue it after weariness comes : thus will that 
equability of habit be maintained which is promotive 
of a long and healthful life. Hence it is not true 
that the more tired a man is at night, the more 
healthy it is, for he may be too tired to sleep re- 
freshingly. 

" It is not true that the more violent the exercise 
the more healthy it is ; it is directly the reverse, 



240 DYSPEPSIA. 

for it is a shock to the system, it is an overstrain 
and to that extent is a permanent injury to the 
delicate organization of the body, as much as the 
strain on a ship or the workmanship of a watch. 

" As a general rule base-ball men, cricketers, 
rowers, and those who have achieved victories in 
competitive games, do not live long. Mr. John 
Lillywhite, the best cricketer in England, recently 
died before fifty, although he had a compactness of 
build which should have secured him a full threescore 
years and ten. He was a gentleman of intelligence, 
dose observation, and good judgment, which led 
him to retire from the game which he saw was un- 
dermining his constitution, and within a year after 
the acknowledgment he died. He told the writer 
in London in the summer 1873, that the first point 
of injury was the overstrain, the second that after 
a play, while resting, there was a constant tempta- 
tion to stand around and enter into conversation 
about the game, exposed to drafts of air while in a 
heated state, making a cold almost inevitable, and 
then there were pressing temptations to take drinks 
after a play and before renewals, in order to brace 
the system to the necessary effort, with the result 



PHILOSOPHY OF EXERCISE. 241 

that before a man knew it he would find himself 
in the habit of taking half a dozen drinks a day. 

" It is from the fatigue and overstrain that all 
competitive games are injurious to the constitution* 
To make exercise healthful, the strength must be 
expended equably, steadily and deliberately. It is 
the ploughboy who lives to be an old man ; it is the 
steady laborer on the farm who may calculate on 
his 'fourscore.' 

" The reserve of strength with which a man starts 
out every morning is expended in two different 
directions, the brain and muscles, in thought or 
work. Thought is the more exhausting of the two : 
the farmer can work from morning to night from 
one week's end to another and thrive upon it ; the 
brain-worker cannot profitably spend more than six 
hours out of the twenty-four in working out his 
problems. The most successful and voluminous 
literary men of our time, who maintain their vigor 
to a good age, do not spend more than four or five 
hours at their desk, having found that that was the 
limit of their endurance and pleasurable labor. 

" Strength is often wasted by its injudicious ex- 
penditure from the failure to put it out on the chief 
labor of the day. A clergyman who chops wood or 



242 DYSPEPSIA. 

splits rails during the morning, would not be at all 
likely to do his best work on his sermon that day, 
because he has already used up strength needed for 
study. And if on Sabbath morning he takes an ex- 
haustive walk to visit a sick parishioner, he will fail 
to make the best of his public services. A farmer, 
Mr, Johnson, of Sullivan County, Illinois, who with 
a large number of laborers cultivates fifty thousand 
acres, has found that it pays to have his men ride 
to their work of mornings, which is that much to- 
wards preventing them from being over weary ; 
they are required to ride home from their work at 
night, leaving all their strength to be put out on the 
work of the farm and not in useless long walks, 
thus preventing over weakness, which gives restless 
sleep. 

•' The merchant, the banker, and other business 
men of New York of heavy responsibilities, who 
live a mile or two or more from their counting- 
rooms, cannot afford to walk the distance after 
breakfast ; no animals exercise after a full feeding. 
All the strength is imperatively needed for the 
brain-work, on the proper performance of which 
very large interests are at stake. A. T. Stewart is 
not seen on foot except at his own door, and he 



PHILOSOPHY OF EXERCISE. 243 

seems as young as ten years ago. A business man 
may walk home to great advantage physically, 
mentally, and morally, because the excitement of 
the day's work has been in the brain ; there is a 
large excess of blood there, extending almost to an 
inflammatory condition. Exercise of the muscles 
draws that surplus away from that important part 
and is expended on their own workings, hence, 
when he reaches home, he feels less tired than 
when he left his office, stronger, more buoyant, and 
will be more likely to meet his family with a loving 
smile, instead of the tired look, the contracted brow, 
and the anxious countenance. 

" It is the same with the mechanic who lives a 
mile or more away from his business ; he should by 
riding save his strength for his proper work, and if 
working for himself he will find that at the close of 
the day he has done more work, and better and 
easier, hence is less tired, than if he had acted 
differently. 

" He commits a grave error who, having a heavy 
day's work before him, gets up earlier than usual 
that he may have more time to do it in, because, by 
lessening the hours of sleep, which gives. strength, 
he begins the day with less than the usual amount, 



214? DYSPEPSIA. 

to do more work ; the certain result will be that 
the work will not be as well done nor as easily." 

It must commend itself to the conviction of re- 
flective minds that the less we exercise the less 
health we have, and the more certain are we to die 
before our time. But comparatively few persons 
are able to explain how does exercise promote 
health. Both beast and bird, in a state of nature, 
are exempt from disease, except in rare cases ; it is 
because the unappeasable instinct of searching for 
their necessary food impels them to ceaseless 
activities. Children, when left to themselves, eat 
a great deal and have excellent health, because they 
will be doing something all the time, until they be- 
come so tired they fall asleep ; and as soon as they 
wake, they begin right away to run about again > 
thus their whole existence is spent in alternate eat- 
ing, and sleeping, and exercise, which is interesting 
and pleasurable. The health of childhood would be 
enjoyed by those of maturer years, if, like children, 
they would eat only when they are hungry ; stop 
when they have done ; take rest in sleep as soon as 
they are tired; and when not eating or resting 
would spend the time diligently in such muscular 
activities as would be interesting, agreeable, and 



PHILOSOPHY OF EXEKCISE. 24:5 

profitable. Exercise without mental elasticity 
without an enlivement of the feelings and the mind, 
is of comparatively little value. 

1. Exercise is health-producing, because it works 
off and out of the system its waste, dead, and effete 
matters ; these are all converted into a liquid form 
called by some " humors," which have exit from 
the body through the " pores " of the skin in the 
shape of perspiration, which all have seen, and 
which all know is the result of exercise, when the 
body is in a state of health. Thus it is, that per- 
sons who do not prespire, who have a dry skin, are 
always either feverish or chilly, and are never well, 
and never can be as long as that condition exists. 
So exercise, by working out of the system its waste, 
decayed, and useless matters, keeps the human 
machine " free ; " otherwise it would soon clog up 
and the wheels of life would stop forever ! 

2. Exercise improves the health, because every 
step a man takes tends to impart motion to the 
bowels; a proper amount of exercise keeps them 
acting once in every twenty-four hours; if they 
have not motion enough, there is constipation, 
which brings on very many fatal diseases; hence 
exercise, especially that of walking, wards off in- 



246 DYSPEPSIA. 

numerable diseases, when it is kept up to an extent 
equal to inducing one action of the bowels daily. 

3. Exercise is healthful, because the more we ex- 
ercise the faster we breathe. If we breathe faster 

i 
we take that much more air into^the lungs ; but it 

is the air we breathe which purifies the blood, and 
the more air we take in, the more perfectly is that 
process performed ; the purer the blood is, and as 
every body knows, the better the health must be. 
When a person's lungs are impaired, he does 
not take in enough air for the wants of the system ; 
that being the case, the air he does breathe should 
be the purest possible, which is out-door air. Hence, 
the more a consumptive stays in the house, the 
more certain and more speedy his death. 



HOMEOPATHIC 
TREATMENT OF DYSPEPSIA. 



Homoeopathic Treatment of Dyspepsia. 



This method of treatment is given here for the 
satisfaction of that large number of persons who 
favor homoeopathy and who, purchasing the book, 
might feel disappointed in not finding something 
in relation to that mode of managing the disease. 
The intelligent reader will be interested in many 
of the details. In giving the homoeopathic idea of 
dyspepsia, its causes and its cure, it will not be 
necessary to adhere to the exact words except as to 
doses, and condensation in other things will be 
practiced. 

The word indigestion is preferred by these 
practitioners, and they consider it the prolific 
parent of chronic disease, and, in fact, as has been 
previously stated, lays the system peculiarly liable 
to all forms of disease, whether acute or chronic* 
because it keeps the whole body and every part of 
it in a debilitated condition, and hence unable to 
resist mortific influences. , 

The predisposing causes are all such as tend to 
impair the general health, as bad air, and hereditary 
1G ( 249 ) 



250 DYSPEPSIA. 

and constitutional defects, but the more immediate, 
the directly exciting, causes, the coal which touches 
the powder, are irregular eating, over indulgence, 
large use of wines and spirits, head study, exhaust- 
ing occupations and the like, the foundation of the 
malady being frequently laid in early life, as 
already referred to. 

Indigestion is not necessarily in all cases 
attended with actual physical suffering or pain. It 
occurs in its worst organic forms without any 
exhibition of symptoms in the digestive organs 
themselves, hence the need of close inspection and 
discrimination, but in the great majority of cases 
the original seat of the disturbance will be iden- 
tified in the digestive and nutritive functions. 

The disease is a local increase of the natural 
irritability, irritation at first, and then a deficiency 
of it which is 

WEAKNESS OR DEBILITY, 

communicating the ill effects to the brain, to the men- 
tal and moral faculties, to the cord which is the cen- 
tre of motive impulse ; to the liver, by interference 
with the bilious discharge, by regurgitation, by nerv- 
ous affinity; to the blood by insufficient or altered 
-supply in quality or quantity, and through that to 



WEAKNESS OR DEBILITY. 251 

the heart, lungs and skin ; and in short the whole 
muscular and nervous systems are affected and im- 
paired; the stomach being deranged, the diseased con- 
ditions are communicated to the intestines ; impairing 
the whole apparatus of nutrition and its appurte- 
nances. But in all cases it must not be forgotten, that 
if cure is looked for in the original seat of the disease, 
the stomach, must be attacked, and predisposing 
causes removed. Homoeopathy, however, operates 
on the stomach by administering medicines adapted 
to all the symptoms observed, it being important to 
combine these with other appropriate measures, as 
diet, exercise, habits of life, &c, bearing in mind all 
the time that as the disease came on by increased 
irritability over them, an increased susceptibility to 
irritation, there must be the most perfect avoidance 
of everything stimulating and irritating. 

The stomach is affected by a wrong condition of 
the brain and the nervous system, because its 
power to work is derived from this source ; on the 
other hand, the brain and the nervous system are 
affected by a dyspeptic condition of the stomach 
causing 

Mental derangement, Impatience, Fretfulness, 

Nervousness, Agitation, Changeableness 

Anxiety, Irrascibility, Peevishness, 

Excitability, Fearfulness, Weariness. 



252 DYSP 

These have their origin in the disordered condition 

of the brain in consequence of its being fed with 

imperfect blood, blood not well made, because the 

food out of which the blood is formed was not well 

digested. 

PAINS 

In the head, expansive, darting, spasmodic ; giddi- 
ness, a great multitude of sensations of weakness ; 
of heat and cold, tremblings, convulsions, cramps, 
spasms of limbs and muscles ; 

NERVOUS VITALITY 

is gradually impaired, leading to a more or less 
want of control of the muscles of voluntary motion, 
ending in various forms and degrees of palsy. 

THE BRAIN 

sometimes becomes more or less torpid ; there is 
numbness, indicating suspended sensibility, extend- 
ing to the whole nervous structure. There is dull* 
ness, indisposition to thought or any mental effort* 
with listlessness, depression of spirits and gloomy 

forebodings, 

HEADACHE, 

dull, sharp, obtuse ; heaviness, sense of smell preter* 
naturally acute or at other times very deficient ; 
pain in forehead, 



HEADACHE. 253 

SICK HEADACHE, 

unnatural taste in the mouth from a morbid con- 
dition of the mucous membrane of the stomach and 
its extension above and below. 

THE LUNGS 

are often affected, the gas of undigested and de- 
composing food distends the stomach, which, pres- 
sing upwards and crowding the lungs, interferes 
with their free action and causes oppression and 
shortness of breath. 

The liver is frequently affected in consequence of 
the morbid condition of the lining of the stomach 
extending itself to the bilious organs ; hence it is 
frequently the case that the dyspeptic has occa- 
sional attacks of biliousness with its ordinary 
symptoms of nausea, sometimes vomiting, fitful 
appetite, and aversion to food. 

The heart is functionally implicated in dyspepsia, 
because all the blood of the body passes through it 
many times a day, and being imperfect, unnatural 
and impure, it must cause an abnormal action of 
the heart, and the result is that the pulse is often 
weak and feverish, and palpitations are frequent 
and sometimes distressing. 



254 DYSPEPSIA. 

At other times the blood, not having enough life, 
does not impart its natural stimulus to the heart, 
and it becomes torpid, does not beat fast enough ; 
does not throw the blood far enough out towards 
the surface and the extremities, causing the dys- 
peptic to feel chilly and dull and weak ; the least 
thing in the world gives him a cold, with all the 
discomforts connected therewith. 

THE SKIN 

partakes of the general derangement and is often 
hot and dry or cold and clammy, having a sepulchral 
feel with a variety of peculiar morbid sensations, 
such as 



Crawling, 


Itching, 


Pimples, 


Tingling, 


Spots, 


Sallowncss, 


Irritation, 


Pricking, 


Redness, 


Shuddering, 


Splotches, 


Turgidi4y, 



THE EYE AND SIGHT 

often sympathize with the unnatuial condition of 
the stomach, and they are watery, there is a dar^f 
rim around or under them, sometimes blood-shot, 
the lids are swoolen or red and angry-looking, glu- 
tinous and gummy discharges are seen on the 
lashes, sometimes there is partial-blindness for 
short periods, with trembling of the lids. 



VARIETIES OF DYSPEPSIA. 255 

The ear3 and hearing may also be impaired: 
they may become greenish, and no wax is made, 
and there is more or less of head and burning pain, 

All these varied results may attend a dyspeptic 
condition of the system, because the stomach is the 
seat of disease, and its lining, called the mucous 
membrane, being disordered and extended in every 
direction towards all inner surfaces, the disease is 
communicated and spreads as a fire spreads where- 
ever there is combination of wood, or grass, or 
leaves. i 

Homoeopathy gives several varieties of dys- 
pepsia. 1. Where only the functions of the stomach 
are involved causing irregular operations. 2. Or- 
ganic, causing a destructive change in the structure 
of the parts, as in cancer, ulceration and the like. 3. 
When the lining membrane is affected. 4. The 
nerves of the stomach become deranged. 5. In 
time both the nerves and the mucous membrane 
are implicated, when it becomes dyspepsia in its 
worst forms. 

THE GREAT REMEDY 

for dyspepsia in its common forms in the homoeo- 
pathic treatment is nux vomica or strychnine 
which is obtained from the nut of the strychnos 



256 DYSPEPSIA* 

tree, (See Health at Home, p. 477), in the Island of 
Ceylon, bearing rich, orange-colored berries as 
large as a pippin apple contains, flat round seeds an 
inch in diameter, covered with silken, ash -coloured 
hair ; this nut is of such a deadly poison that the 
natives give it the name of dog killer. A nut con- 
tains about twenty grains, and one gradually learns 
to eat it like opium, and with similar results* 
One nut generally lasts a week. It must be taken 
just before or just after having eaten, otherwise 
convulsions will follow. Strychnine as we see it 
is a whitish crystal and is freely used by physi- 
cians, in small quantities, and in nervous affections 
chiefly. If too much is taken death will ensue in a 
few minutes. If taken inadvertently or by design, 
the most generally accessible remedy or antidote is 
to drink warm milk and water, half and half, one, 
teacupful every two minutes until there is free 
vomiting, then take twenty grains of bromade of 
potash dissolved in water, or a glass of lemonade, 
or a tablespoonful of vinegar in a cup of water ; or 
eat two or three lemons. The symptoms of poison- 
ing from strychnine are great bitterness in the 
mouth, convulsions, sometimes the limbs are stiff and 
straight, jaws firmly closed, as in lock jaw, drowsi- 
ness, hard breathing, fainting, and death. This was 



EFFECTS OF rfTKYCHNINE. 257 

the medicine taking by Professor Webster when 
riding to execution in a carriage. He was a super- 
ior chemist, and with all his knowledge he chose 
this drug as most likely to produce almost instan- 
taneous death. A portion of a grain on a cat's 
tongue destroys life instantly ; on the tongue of a 
man convulsions follow, Webster did not appor- 
tion the dose properly, hence it failed of its de- 
signed effect. 

Homoeopathists make large claims for the bene- 
ficial effects of strychnine on the organs of diges- 
tion and on the evacuations. The volume referred to 
page 886, says it is advantageouly given for 
u general derangement of digestion with foul taste 
whenever one has eaten anything, foul taste in the 
mouth and tightness around the waist, and upper 
part of the stomach, with sensation as if the clothes 
were tight, painfully tight ; the muscles of the 
stomach feel as if bruised ; costiveness, conveying 
the idea of constriction of the lower bowel and at- 
tended with fruitless urging ; constant risings in the 
throat ; of a bitter or sour taste ; hiccough ; the pit 
of the stomach painfully sensitive to the touch; 
nausea and inclination to vomit ; retching ; vomit- 
ing of phlegm, bile, sour matter or undigested food ; 
the vomiting is most prevalent in the morning, at 



238 DYSPEPSIA. 

night, or soon after eating, and is often attended with 
headache, cramps, anxiety and tremulous debility; 
obstinate constipation, or alternate constipation, and 
diarrhoea ; the motions in each case being imperfect 
and insufficient ; large, hard motions or frequent 
evacuations, composed of slime and froth, and 
attended with urging ; dysenteric exhaustion, 
with cutting pains in the region of the naval f 
pressing and straining on the lower bowels, and 
evacuations mixed with bloody mucus ; the poster- 
ior passage is very painful ; piles ; great tenderness 
of the pile swellings ; protrusion of the lower intes- 
tines and piles ; soreness of the bowels ; sensation 
as if something alive were moving in the intestines '. 
dragging sensation about the groins, as if rupture 
were imminent ; urging to press water without 
effect or with discharges by the anis, attended 
with great suffering and burning in the head of the 
bladder and thence downwards; sensation of qualm- 
ishness chiefly after eating or at night, attended 
with weakness and anxiety ; dark, almost red urine 
depositing a sediment like brick dust." 

Such are the ailments and symptoms which 
strychnine is given to remove, and as most of these 
symptoms are present in dyspepsia, it is quite 
natural to suppose that it is peculiarly applicable in 



STRYCHNINE. 259 

the treatment of this disease, hence the Homoepath 
administers it for the following symptoms. * Appli- 
cable to the treatment of indigestion in hypocon- 
driacal subjects. It covers the following symptoms 
either when they have arisen in consequence of 
sedentary habits, excessive mental exertion, or long 
watching, or of overloading the stomach, of excessive 
draughts of milk, or even water, or of eating or drink_ 
ing acid things, or of using spices and seasoning to 
excess ; or again in cases in which all food or drink, 
however free, light and digestible, provoke indiges- 
tion — sometimes it arises from the abuse of coffee f 
tobacco, wine or ardent spirits, or when the irregu- 
larity of the digestion has been increased or con- 
firmed by loss of animal fluids, as profuse sweating, 
bleeding and the like, or by habitual recourse to 
aperients, the head is confused with occasionally 'B 
feeling as if resulting from intoxication, and giddi- 
ness, with sensation of turning and wavering of the 
brain, headache unfitting for and increased by mentaj 
exertion, tearing, drawing or jerking pains in the head 
and pulsitive pains, and a sensation, as if a nail were 
driven into the brain ; congestion of blood in the 
head with humming in the ears. 



SCO DYSPEPSIA. 

THE HEADACHES 

are often deeply seated in the brain, or in the back 
of the head, frequently confined to one side, or ovei 
the eyes, or at the root of the nose, coming on 
chiefly in the morning after a meal, or in the open 
air. 

YELLOWNESS 

of the lower part of the white of the eye with a 
mist before it, a sensation as if one were about 
to fall ; specks of grey or black or red spots before 
the eye ; short-sightedness ; pale or yellowish color or 
redness of the face, especially about the mouth and 
nose; frequent headache with impaired powers oi 
digestion with insipidity of food ; foul, dry, white 
or yellowish tongue, vivid redness of the margins of 
the tongue ; thirst, with water-brash, particularly 
after acids or rich food ; accumulation of slime, 
phlegm or water in the mouth ; taste, metallic 
salt, sulphurous, herbaceous, bitter, sour, sweetisn 
or putrid, chiefly in the morning or after meals ; 
bitter eructation or continued nausea, especially after 
meals, or even after drinking cold water or milk, 
or in going into the open air after a meal or after 
partaking of acids ; heart-burn, hiccough, exciting 



SYMPTOMS 2G1 

flatulence; frequent and violent vomiting of food, 
phlegm or bile ; ineffectual efforts to vomit, disten- 
sion and fulness of the region of the stomach, with 
excessive tenderness to the touch ; a feeling of 
tightness of the clothing around the upper part of 
the waist; cramps in the stomach, constipation 
reddish urine, with brick dust-colored sediment ; 
sleep unfreshing and restless, either from suffering 
or otherwise, with disagreeable dreams or drowsi- 
ness in the mornings, tending towards an ex- 
aggeration of the symptoms during the prevalence 
of a northerly or easterly wind, or when the atmos- 
phere is loaded with vapor ; amelioration after- 
warm food." Such are the symptoms and combina- 
tions of symptoms of dyspepsia as detailed in the 
" Homoeopathic Domestic Medicine," as affecting dif- 
ferent parts of the body, and which would seem 
inexplicable but for the comprehensible fact that the 
disease is in the stomach, with which the 

PNEUMOGASTKEC NERVE 

communicates, and which, in a more or less direct 
manner communicates with almost every part of the 
body ; the word pneumogastric being made of two 
words of Greek origin, one meaning the lungs, the 
other the stomach, branches of which go to all the re- 



262 DYSPEPSIA. 

gion roundabout, as the telegraph wires from the 
WesternUnion building on Broadway, N.Y., spread 
out towards every part of the country and the 
world, and if there is derangement there, there is 
derangement wherever these wires reach ; let the 
derangement be corrected there, and the perfect 
workings will be corrected everywhere else ; this 
derangement may arise from a faulty acid without 
which acid in its proper purity and power the wires 
will not work at all ; connect that and the influences 
are scattered over the whole surface of the earth ; 
to bring about this result, only one thing has to be 
done. So in dyspepsia, if one thing is done in 
the stomach, the interminable list of symptoms just 
detailed is wiped out and the whole man is well. 
This is done as named in the first part of the book 
by giving the stomach rest ; firstly, giving it less 
work to do, by not eating so often and so much 
and, secondly, by giving it work to do which it can 
do easily, as supplying it with plain food, grains, 
fruits and meat. The homoepathists claim to be 
able to bring about the same result by a medicine, 
nux vomica, or called by some strychnine. The most 
distinctive indication for the employment of which, 
in preference to cocculus, is the temperament, which 
is restless, irritable, lively and choleric. A disposi- 



TREATMENT OF THE DISEASE. 2G3 

tion to piles also a good indication, for two reasons, 
it draws the irritation to a part of the body distant 
from the stomach, thus relieving and resting it and 
also relieves the system of some of its extra blood 
imperfect and impure, and these are the qualities 
which cause the symptoms ; and the less blood there 
is to cause these symptoms, the lesss decided they 
are. These things being so, it is not wonderful that 
one remedy, if efficient, can remove so many symp- 
toms. 

Three globules of nwx vomica dissolved iu a tea- 
spoonful of water are given night and morning for 
a week ; then pause four days, resume the same 
remedy in similar course, or suspend treatment 
on proceeding with another medicine, according to 
the circumstances which are present. If nux vo- 
mica be not apparently capable of effecting a per- 
manent cure, consider the next remedies, Cocculus, 
Carbo-beg, Pulsatilla, etc., 

Cocculus is for higher bilious subjects ; Carbo-beg 
for persons of advancd years \ Pulsatilla for females 
especially if hysterical, supplemented by Ignesia 
twelve hours after the fourth dose of Pulsatilla if the 
latter has failed in affording permanent relief and 
does not promise to complete the cure. 



264 DYSPEPSIA. 

While the homoeopath has great reliance on nux 
vomica as a remedy he strongly insists on a studious 
attention to diet and regimen, and the removal of 
the predisposing causes, and under the head of excit- 
ing causes are very properly, placed "close, unhealthy 
ill-drained, ill-ventilated dwellings; proximity to 
some factories ; hereditary or other constitutional 
defects, the influence of the atmosphere of particu- 
lar elements and localities ; exposure to unhealthy 
exhalations ; the water of particular localities, 
which is impregnated with mineral substances 
especially lead, and in which diseases like dyspep- 
sia assume an epidemic form." 

The more immediately exciting causes from a 
homoeopathic stand-point are inequalities in diet, 
such as over-indulgence m the pleasures of the 
table ; partaking of rich and indigestible food and 
stimulating soups ; excess in the quantity of food ; 
excessive use of wine, malt, and spirituous liquors ; 
tea and coffee, and other stimulants imperfect 
mastication of food ; irregularities of, or too long 
fasting between meals ; indolent or sedentary habits, 
or exhaustion from intense study; keeping late 
hours ; mental emotions ; relating to the external 
surface, as checking perspiration and cooling off too 
quickly after exercise or work. The foundation of 



UNWISE PRACTICES. 2G5 

this disorder is pregnantly laid in early life by the 
frequent and copious administration of aperients, 
as salts, castor-oil and other deleterious drugs ; and 
the evil is perpetuated in more mature age by 
a continuance of the same hurtful and unwise prac- 
tices. An abuse of tea and coffee is a frequent 
cause of many of the symptoms of dyspepsia, such 
as sick and nervous headaches, attended with excite- 
ment and other symptoms of indigestion, which 
will frequently disappear on the disuse of these 
beverages. 

If, however, the troublesome symptoms should 
continue the course of treatment should be adopted 
already detailed. The homoeopath considers the 
ordinary causes of dyspepsia are hurried and im- 
perfect mastication ; overloading the stomach ; fat, 
greas} 7 ", indigestible or tainted foods, flatulent 
vegetables, ices, stimulants and others. There are 
causes of what may be called single or acute attacks 
of dyspepsia, under the head of the "Treatment,'' for 
which it is observed that when the symptoms of ap- 
proaching derangement of the stomach declare them- 
selves immediately or a few hours after a repast 
which has been too freely partaken of, a cup full of 
strong coffee, without milk or sugar, is frequently a 

sufficient restorative ; should, however, this fail to 
17 



2C6 DYSPEPSIA. 

relieve a sick headache, and inclination to vomit 
be present, nature should be assisted by various 
artificial means, the milder, if sufficient, the better* 
such as tickling the throat with a feather, by giving 
tepid water to drink until the stomach has com- 
pletely evacuated its contents. Ipecacuanaha is a 
most affective remedy when continuous and most 
distressing nausea forms the most prominent symp- 
tom. Its alternate employment with Pulsatilla, 
in preference to Antimonium, is advisable when the 
disturbance has arisen after a full and hurried meal ; 
also, when a rash has been thrown out from the 
effects of a disordered stomach attended with 
anxiety and oppressed fretting and sickness, this 
remedy will in most cases effect speedy relief. Ipe- 
cacuanaha should be employed singly if it be suf- 
ficient individually to consume all the manifestation 
which occur here, if in alternation with Pulsatilla 
or afterwards in respect of Antimonium. If singly, 
three globules in a teaspoonful of water every three 
hours until amelioration or change." 

Strychnine is as much relied on in acute attacks 
of dyspepsia as in the chronic form — in doses of four 
globules in a teaspoonM of water ; or if one dose 
be not sufficient, of a solution of twelve globules to 
three tablespoonfuls'of water; give a teaspoonful 



THE USE OF STRYCHNINE. 267 

every three hours, until amelioration or change ; if 
then the symptoms, although materially modified, 
be not wholly subdued, continue to administer 
similar doses night and morning for three days, or 
longer, if necessary. 

The allopathic treatment in such cases would be 
ohe administration of an emetic ; this would give 
immediate relief, and if followed by a little sound 
sleep the patient will be as well as ever in a few 
hours. But both treatments are seriously ob- 
jectionable; an emetic is a powerful remedy; it 
shocks and strains the system and always leaves it 
in a debilitated condition, which however is entirely 
recovered from in an hour or two. 

There are two objections to the homoeopathic 
method of treatment. The stomach is too full, that 
is the trouble, it cannot work, and to increase this 
fulness by drinking successive cups of strong coffee 
is over-loading it still further with what is con- 
sidered an exciting cause of the malady, and at 
the same time resulting in causing the oppressed 
organ to labour for hours and hours together to get 
rid of the surfeit, of the vast mass of decomposing 
food ; the inevitable consequence being a slow and 
tedious recovery, protracted to days. 



2G8 DYSPEPSIA. 

The hygienic method, as previously intimated, 
avoids all the objections named, offers no violence, 
but merely assists nature, simply advising when a 
person finds he has eaten too much he must not 
add anything, must not put anything either solid 
or liquid into a stomach already too full, but get 
rid of it in a natural way by working it off in two 
ways. Moderate exercise or work in the open air 
to the extent of inducing a very slight moisture on 
the skin and kept up for several hours ; this is an 
infallible remedy, to be followed by giving the 
stomach rest for a day or two in giving it little 
work to perform, supplying it with fruits and bread 
or porridge and a very little meat. 

But as there are cases in which it is impractic- 
able to go out of doors, as in inclement weather, or 
after night, or the system is otherwise debilitated, 
the next best thing is to kneed the stomach as des- 
cribed on another page, gently, continuously, for four 
or five minutes, which tires the patient somewhat ; 
but after resting half an hour repeat the operation 
and so continue, spending a portion of the interval 
in walking back and forth in the room ; learning 
wisdom enough by it all to prevent a repetition of 
the suffering and trouble by not indulging in a 
second debauch. 



SPASMS IN THE STOMACH. 269 

In the " Homoeopathic Domestic Medicine" al- 
ready referred to, there are some instructive re- 
marks, -well worthy of special attention, under the 
head of 

SPASM IN THE STOMACH. 

Symptoms — contractive or spasmodic, or gnaw- 
ing pains about the region of the stomach, extend- 
ing to the chest and back, attended with anxiety, 
nausea, eructation or vomiting, with faintness and 
coldness of the extremities. The patient is some- 
times relieved by emission of ascending wind, and 
when complicated with heartburn, by a discharge 
of a quantity of limpid fluid ; headache and con- 
stipation are occasionally present. In some cases 
the pain is very slight, but there is always more or 
less of it, and a degree of anxiety, with nausea, 
often increased by taking food. The disease is fre- 
quently complicated with some disease of the liver, 
spleen, or of the pancreatic gland, or even by cancer- 
ous degeneration of the stomach. It is a 
frequent attendant on gout. It is a more frequent 
affection in the female than in the male, often oc- 
curring after, or about the cessation, of the usual 
monthly periods, or from any interruption of their 
usual course ; in such instances it is usually accom- 



270 DYSPEPSIA. 

panied with hysterical attacks and fainting, and 
may even pass on to 

VOMITING OF BLOOD.. 

It very rarely occurs before the age of puberty. 
The paroxysms last for a longer or shorter time 
according to the violence of the affection, and re- 
turn periodically in many instances, and may be 
brought on by partaking of improper or un- 
suitable articles of diet, or, in some cases, by any 
solid food whatever. This disease originates in an 
unhealthy state of the nerves of the stomach; the 
exciting causes are : long fasting between meals, 
very hot or cold drinks, the habitual use of ardent 
spirits or of indigestible food, worms, and, in some 
instances, exposure to cold or damp weather- 
The chief articles to be avoided by persons subject 
to these cramps are : crude, raw, uncooked vegeta- 
bles, salads, cheese, new bread, sweetmeats, cherries, 
nuts, olives, roasted chestnuts, and stimulants of all 
kinds, whether tea, coffee, alcoholic or fermented 
drinks. 

TREATMENT. 

Nux vomica or strychnine is relied upon as in the 
main the most effecient remedy for spasms of the 
stomach in dyspeptic persons. The more immedi- 



TREATMENT. 271 

ate symptoms to which it is applicable, constric- 
tion, pressing, squeezing or actual spasm of the 
stomach accompanied with a sensation as if the 
clothing was too tight above the waist, as if the 
wind were pent up in the sides beneath the lower 
ribs. This sensation as well as the pains before 
mentioned become generally increased after a meal, 
partaking of coffee, in addition to which a feeling 
of depression or constriction is experienced at the 
chest, which in many cases extends to between the 
shoulders and the lower part of the back. Fre- 
quently also there is nauseau and accumulation of 
clear water in the mouth, or risings of sour, bitter 
fluids, attended with a sensation of burning in the 
throat and gullet called 

HEARTBURN. 

The tongue is tremulous, cracked and fissured, 
clean, of a vivid red, coated yellow or covered with 
a white mucus; lips and gums, white, red or 
swollen ; lips yellowish, blended and somewhat 
hardened ; eyelids inflammed at the margins ; sour 
or putrid taste in the mouth ; vomiting of crude 
materials ; flatulent distension of the bowels ; con- 
stipation ; aching in the forehead ; palpitation of 
the heart and anxiety. When these symptoms are 



272 DYSPEPSIA. 

liablQ to be excited by a fit of passion, or become 
aggravated in the morning, or when the patient is 
occasionally wakened out of his sleep by the spas- 
modic attack, nux vomica is more certainly indicated. 
Dose in several cases of recent orgin: three globules 
in a teaspoonful of water every three hours, until 
amelioration or change. In chronic cases more 01 
less acute pain after every meal : a solution of 
six globules to two tablespoonfuls of water, give a 
teaspoonful every evening until the whole is con- 
sumed, or, in the like proportion, until positive 
amelioration or change. When the spasm of the 
stomach returns periodically, or when from some 
imprudence in diet there is reason to apprehend an 
attack, three globules should be taken in a tea- 
spoonful of water, three hours before the recurr- 
ence of the symptoms, or in the latter case, imme- 
diately after the possible cause has transpired. 
This rule applies in respect of any of the remedies 
prescribed which have been administered with suc- 
cess in former attacks. If there is only temporary 
relief, followed by more intense suffering con- 
tinuing three hours after a second dose of nux, take 
carbo vegetalis : three globules in a teaspoonful of 
water every night and morning for four days. 



